Maharashtra Govt Moves Supreme Court Against Bombay High Court Order Allowing CBI Probe

In a significant development, Maharashtra government on Tuesday (6 April) moved the Supreme Court challenging the Bombay High Court order allowing a CBI probe against former Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on allegations levelled against him by former top cop of Mumbai Param Bir Singh.

An appeal by former Home Minister Anil Deshmukh was also filed along with the appeal by the state government.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni had yesterday asked the CBI to complete its 'preliminary probe' within 15 days on the issues raised by Singh in his 'letter-bomb' last month.

The court had reserved its orders after hearing Singh's petition and some other PILs pertaining to the issue, on 31 March.

In a letter written to CM Uddhav Thackeray a few days after his transfer, Singh had alleged that Deshmukh asked arrested cop Sachin Waze to extort money from restaurants and bars in Mumbai and gave him a target of Rs 100 crore a month.

Former Minister Anil Deshmukh on Monday (5 April) sent his resignation to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, weeks after he became embroiled in the alleged Rs 100 crore per month extortion plan.

In the resignation letter which he also posted on Twitter, Deshmukh cited the Bombay High Court ordering a preliminary CBI inquiry into the allegations against him as the reason for his resignation.