MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Monday sought details of the CBI’s probe so far into its corruption case FIR against former state home minister Anil Deshmukh by Tuesday.
Reiterating that the probe that was meant to instil public confidence must be “against all involved”, the HC again asked if Mumbai police officers on the panel for reinstatement of former assistant police inspector Sachin Waze last year could claim immunity for allegedly being unaware of his controversial past.
“Corruption is the root cause because of which systems are paralysed. Nobody should be left out and everyone should be investigated,” said a bench of Justices S S Shinde and N J Jamadar. “If we get to the root of this matter, Waze was collecting money. So who was behind his reinstatement? Can someone now say that he was not aware of Waze’s past, his record etc? That is why we are saying again and again that this episode was not a one-man thing. The crux of the HC order (of April 5 directing a preliminary enquiry into allegations of ‘corrupt malpractice’ made by former Mumbai police chief Param Bir Singh on March 20 as annexed in a complaint filed by advocate Jaishri Patil ) is to instil public confidence,” they added.
“At the cost of repeating, we are saying the investigation must be against all involved. The normal way is that as long as things are going well, no one says anything. Once a transfer happens, all sorts of allegations are made,” the bench said while concluding Deshmukh’s plea seeking quashing of the CBI FIR against him.
Additional solicitor general Aman Lekhi, the CBI counsel, said Deshmukh’s conduct was not part of his official duty as he is alleged to have asked Waze to collect money from restaurants and bars and so no prior sanction or consent was needed for a CBI probe.
For Deshmukh, senior counsel Amit Desai argued prior sanction was essential under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Lekhi said the prior sanction clause was not meant to protect wrongdoers. “The home minister (Deshmukh) gave a target to collect money to Waze. It’s not a minister’s job to give targets to police officers. This case is of maladministration and misgovernance.”
The CBI counsel said “no one” was beyond the probe’s purview.
