The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the plea 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 against him by former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh.
Justice SK Kaul during the hearing, said that the allegations in the matter were serious and that the Home Minister and Police Commissioner were involved. “They are closely working together till they fall apart, both holding a particular position. Should CBI not probe? Nature of allegations and persons involved require independent probeâ€.
Justice Kaul observed “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 bothâ€.
In its plea filed in the top court, the Maharashtra government had questioned the procedure adopted by High Court saying the state was heard on the question of maintainability of the pleas seeking CBI investigation against Deshmukh on allegation of corruption, and the order too was reserved on that issue, but the court finally ended up directing the probe. After the high court order on April 5, Deshmukh, a veteran politician from Vidarbha, had resigned from the state government.