The Bombay High Court on Thursday adjourned for four weeks the plea filed by former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh seeking to quash the First Information Report (FIR) against him by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
A Division Bench of Justices S.S. Shinde and Manish Pitale was hearing a plea filed by Mr. Deshmukh seeking to quash the FIR registered against him under sections Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 7 (public servant taking gratification other than legal remuneration in respect of an official act) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
As soon as senior advocate Amit Desai appearing for Mr. Deshmukh and started his arguments, CBI’s counsel, Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, said he was served the copy of the petition on Wednesday evening and sought time to file his reply.
The court did not entertain the submission of Mr. Desai, who said it is an important matter and sought an interim relief of no coercive action.
The court said, “He [Mr. Singh] was served yesterday. Now he wants some instructions, and he should be given time.”
The Bench said it was inclined to grant the CBI reasonable time to file its reply but because of Mr. Desai’s request, it granted Mr. Deshmukh liberty to approach court for any urgent relief during the vacation of the High Court with 48 hours’ notice to the central agency.
Meanwhile, the same Bench also directed former Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh to approach the Vacation Bench of the High Court. The case pertains to his plea seeking to quash the FIR against him by the Thane Police in an atrocities case. The court said due to paucity of time it could not hear the matter.
Police inspector Bhimrao Ghadge, who is posted at Akola in Maharashtra, had filed a complaint which led to the FIR against the former Police Commissioner. He had made a series of allegations of corruption against Mr. Param Bir when he was posted with the Thane Police.
