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Where Is Your FIR? How Can There Be An Investigation Without An FIR Bombay HC On Param Bir Singh’s Plea Against Anil Deshmukh

Mumbai: Former Mumbai Police Chief Param Bir Singh faced tough questions today as the Bombay High Court on his plea demanded a CBI inquiry against Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh. He was repeatedly asked why no FIR was lodged against the minister on his charges.

A division bench headed by Chief Justice Dipankar Dutta made the remarks while hearing Singh’s plea for a “fair and impartial” CBI probe into Deshmukh’s alleged corrupt malpractices.

Senior advocate Vikram Nankani, appearing for Singh, said that Singh’s complaint needs to be looked into as it “involves high personalities and comes from a senior IPS officer”.

“In our submission, I do not want to say that this is a case of a whistleblower. These are hard facts that come from a man who has occupied the supreme position in the city, that this is something that should be looked into and then an independent agency can be appointed,” he said.

To this, the High Court asked Singh’s counsel to give an example where there is no FIR and the investigation was transferred to the CBI.

“Where is your FIR? How can there be an investigation without an FIR? We are just expressing our mind, our prima facie observation is without an FIR, no investigation can be conducted. And can such a prayer be maintainable in PIL… Show us a judgement where there is no FIR and the investigation was transferred to CBI…The first step in the wheel of justice is investigation. If there is no FIR there is no investigation,” the bench observed.

The court also pulled up the former Mumbai police chief and said, “You as a commissioner would be failing in your duty if you have not taken any action despite knowing that an offence was being committed.”

“There has to be an FIR to investigate. Who stops you from filing an FIR? Prima facie observation is there can be no investigation without an FIR,” the court responded.

“You are asking for directions for the investigation to be handed over to the CBI. Where are the FIR and investigation so that it can be handed over to CBI?”

The former Mumbai police chief initially approached the Supreme Court seeking a CBI inquiry, but later his plea was withdrawn by the apex court to transfer him to the High Court. The apex court had said that there is no doubt that the matter is ‘quite serious’, but the petitioner should first move to the Bombay High Court.

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