The Bombay High Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea filed by the Maharashtra Government seeking to form a special investigation team (SIT) to probe corruption allegations against Anil Deshmukh, former Home Minister.
A division bench of justices Nitin Jamdar and SV Kotwal was hearing a plea filed by the State Home Department seeking a direction to the CBI to hand over the investigation to the SIT.
The petition was filed on the ground that from March 2019 to January 2021, Director of CBI Subodh Jaiswal was heading the Maharashtra police force and was directly involved in deciding and implementing transfers and posting of police officers. Therefore, no fair and impartial investigation can take place when Mr. Jaiswal is at the helm of the affairs of the CBI.
The petition also raises a grievance that the CBI and its officers are harassing the senior-most officers of the State and therefore an intervention is required from the court.
The case dates back to March 20 when former Police Commissioner of Mumbai Param Bir Singh had levelled allegations of corruption against Mr. Deshmukh. Following a public interest litigation, the High Court on April 5 directed the CBI to initiate a preliminary inquiry against Mr. Deshmukh and soon thereafter an FIR was registered against him.
The court reserved the judgment on November 26 and held on Wednesday, “There is no substance in contention of the petitioner [State of Maharashtra] that Mr. Jaiswal being the Director of the CBI is not competent to carry on with the investigation. The challenge based on the role of Mr. Jaiswal lacks bonafide.”
The 74-page judgment read, “Considering the totality of the circumstances including the conduct of the petitioner as noticed by the judicial orders and manifested from the record, the petitioner is not entitled to any relief in this petition. No case is made out for withdrawing the investigation from the CBI and entrusting it to the SIT.”
