SC rejects plea by Maharashtra govt for SIT probe against Anil Deshmukh
Mumbai: Supreme Court has rejected the Maharashtra government’s plea demanding a court-monitored Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe against former state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.
CBI’s investigation can be biased as former Maharashtra Police chief Subodh Kumar Jaiswal is now the investigating agency’s chief, the plea claimed.
The Supreme Court has dismissed the Maharashtra government’s plea for a court-monitored Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe against former state home minister Anil Deshmukh. The petition claimed that the CBI probe may be biased as former Maharashtra police chief Subodh Kumar Jaiswal is now the head of the agency.
Deshmukh, a senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader, is being probed for allegations of accepting bribes for police transfers and postings when he was the state’s home minister. He was arrested on November 2.
Jaiswal was then part of the Police Establishment Board and supervised transfers and postings. Based on this, the Maharashtra government has alleged that Jaiswal “should be a witness if not a potential accused”.
The government, in its plea, said that Jaiswal was the Director-General of Police (DGP) of Maharashtra during whose reign the alleged activities against Deshmukh took place.
“This person would be relevant as a witness and possibly an accused, as he was the Chairman of the Transfer Board at the relevant time. He was a directly involved person. The FIR was registered by the police before he became the CBI Director,” said senior advocate C Aryama Sundaram said.
But judges SK Kaul and MM Sundresh refused to step in and rejected the petition. “It is complete red herring… I thought the state will see some sense. But, these are different nature of battles. Sorry, dismissed,” the bench said.
In December, the Bombay High Court dismissed the Maharashtra government’s plea to set up an SIT to probe the corruption case against Deshmukh on the grounds that the CBI probe was not impartial.
The High Court had said that the Maharashtra government’s apprehension about Jaiswal was “not justified but only made up”.
(With Agency Inputs)
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