[CBI FIR Against Anil Deshmukh] “We Will Hold Our Horses Till June 7 or Whenever The Matter Is Listed Before The Court Of Chief Justice”: CBI Argues In Bombay High Court

The CBI on Wednesday before the Bombay High Court bench of Justice SJ Kathawalla and Justice SP Tavade has agreed to not demand for any documents in connection with the preliminary enquiry directed by the bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice GS Kulkarni to the CBI into the alleged corrupt malpractices of Former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.

Learned ASG SV Raju appearing for CBI argued for the plea seeking to quash certain portions of FIR filed by CBI against Ex Home Minister to be listed before the Bench which passed the order dated April 5, 2021.

Accepting ASG Raju’s submissions the court said, “No No you are right. The matter here is whether the scope of the order has been extended or not. But you will have to agree that until & unless your matter is not listed before the Ld Chief Justice, you will have to refrain yourself from asking for those documents.”

“I'm willing to make a statement that we'll not ask for anything till June 7 or until the matter is listed before the Court, whatever is earlier. This is only with respect to the documents & not with regards to any other else.”, said ASG Raju.

Earlier, Senior Counsel Rafique Dada appearing for the State of Maharashtra had submitted that the documents asked for were “secretive” and were not mentioned in the orders of Laxmi Patil or letter of Parambir Singh.

“They want the letter of Rashmi Shukla, letter of the DGP and Original minutes of the meeting held by Delhi Special Police Establishment. All of these are secretive and affect the officers at large," he had further submitted.

It was further added that the CBI was not entitled to everything except the CCTV footage which they have. It was also his contention that, “This is a matter pending before the State Administration. There are 3 or 4 points; 1. CBI or any other authority cannot go beyond the order of the court, 2. They want the minutes of Police Establishment which would have serious ramifications, 3. Further Rashmi Shukla letter.”

The CBI had registered an FIR under the Prevention of Corruption Act and IPC against the then Home Minister. It was stated in the FIR that the preliminary enquiry prima facie revealed that a cognizable case was made out in the matter wherein Deshmukh and unknown others attempted to obtain “undue advantage for improper and dishonest performance of his public duty”.

The paragraphs in the present matter related to reinstatement of Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Waze & alleged undue influence over the transfer of two police officers.

One of the paragraphs from the FIR mentioned that the central agency, in its Preliminary Enquiry (PE), had found that former State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh was aware of the reinstatement of now suspended Assistant Police Inspector (API) Sachin Waze into the police after 15 years and sensitive and sensational cases being given to Waze for investigation. The second such paragraph stated that Deshmukh and others exercised "undue influence" over the transfer and postings of police officers as alleged by ex top Cop Parambir Singh.

The matter is expected to be heard on June 9, 2021 before the bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice GS Kulkarni.