‘Serious allegations’: SC dismisses plea by Anil Deshmukh, Maharashtra govt against HC order for CBI probe
A bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Hemant Gupta observed that the nature of allegations and people involved in the case needs an inquiry by an independent agency.
FollowThe Supreme Court will on Thursday dismissed the pleas filed by the Maharashtra government and its former home minister Anil Deshmukh who had challenged the Bombay High Court order directing a CBI probe into the allegations of corruption and misconduct levelled against him by former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh.
A bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Hemant Gupta observed that the nature of allegations and people involved in the case needs an inquiry by an independent agency.
“Allegations are serious, the Home Minister and police commissioner are involved. They’re closely working together till they fall apart, both holding a particular position. Should CBI not probe? Nature of allegations and persons involved require independent probe,” Live Law quoted the bench as saying.
Kapil Sibal, who was representing Deshmukh in the court, said there can be no preliminary inquiry without hearing the former home minister. "It’s only an inquiry on the basis of something akin to a press conference. It’s hearsay," Sibal said.
"It was not your (Anil Deshmukh) enemy, who made the allegations against you but it was done by the one who was almost your right-hand man (Param Bir Singh). The probe should be done against both," Justice Kaul observed.
The court also observed that Deshmukh did not resign when the state set up a commission of enquiry but only after the high court’s order. “He was clinging to office,” the court said.
Terming the case as “unprecedented”, the Bombay High Court asked the CBI to complete the probe as earliest as possible, preferably within 15 days, after which the CBI director is at liberty to take a “further course of action.”
In his appeal filed in the apex court, Deshmukh has said the high court order raises issues of seminal importance which “impact not just the federal structure of the country, impact on our polity, but also the manner in which, and the institutions through which investigations are to be conducted”. He said that without lodging an FIR, the court could have directed that an application be filed before the magistrate for investigation under section 156(3) of the CrPC.
