Anil Deshmukh, ex-Maharashtra Home Minister, likely to move SC to challenge Bombay HC order for CBI probe against him

Anil Deshmukh, a senior NCP leader, resigned after the Bombay High Court ordered a CBI probe into the allegations of extortion against him by Singh.

New Delhi: Anil Deshmukh, who resigned as the Maharashtra Home Minister on Monday, is likely to challenge the Bombay High Court order asking the CBI to conduct a preliminary probe into allegations of corruption levelled against him by former Mumbai police chief Param Bir Singh.

According to the NCP sources, he is likely to approach the Supreme Court on Tuesday. After tendering his resignation in the afternoon, Deshmukh visited the national capital and met senior lawyers here.

Deshmukh, a senior NCP leader, resigned after the Bombay High Court ordered a CBI probe into the allegations of extortion against him by Singh. He submitted his resignation letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. "I don't have the moral right to continue in office after the court order. I have decided to quit. Kindly relieve me from my post," Deshmukh's resignation letter said. 

Meanwhile, a CBI team will reach Mumbai today to start the process of initiating a preliminary inquiry against Deshmukh. Normally, the agency waits for a formal order and a legal opinion before initiating any action in such cases but given the short period of 15 days granted by the high court to conduct a preliminary inquiry into the allegations, the CBI has taken swift action, officials said.

The CBI team will meet lawyers to collect the order, complaint along with annexure and other related documents to start the probe, they said. A bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni on Monday said this was an "extraordinary" and "unprecedented" case that warranted an independent inquiry.

In its 52-page judgement, the bench said Singh's allegations against Deshmukh had put at stake the citizen's faith in the state police. Such allegations, made by a serving police officer, against the state home minister could not be left unattended, and were required to be probed into if prima facie, they made a case of a cognisable offence, the HC said.

The court said a probe by an independent agency was necessary in the present case, to "instill public confidence and safeguard the Fundamental Rights of the citizens".

The HC pronounced its verdict on three public interest litigations (PILs) and a criminal writ petition filed last month, seeking several reliefs and a CBI probe into the matter. One of the PILs was filed by Singh himself, and the other two were filed by lawyer Ghanshyam Upadhyay and a local teacher Mohan Bhide.

The criminal writ petition was filed by city-based lawyer Jayshree Patil. Singh, in his plea filed on March 25, sought a CBI probe against Deshmukh who, he claimed, had asked police officers, including suspended cop Sachin Waze, to extort Rs 100 crore from bars and restaurants.

Waze himself is under NIA probe in the case pertaining to explosives found in an SUV near the mansion of industrialist Mukesh Ambani. Deshmukh has denied any wrongdoing.