Maharashtra seeks partial stay on Anil Deshmukh probe

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court, in a late-night hearing on Wednesday, heard an urgent plea by the Maharashtra government for stay of the CBI probe into two aspects of the FIR against former home minister Anil Deshmukh.
The state has sought quashing of two paragraphs in the FIR and a halt to a ‘roving’ probe into dismissed assistant police inspector Sachin Waze’s reinstatement, besides Deshmukh’s alleged “exercise of undue influence” over police transfers and postings. It said the CBI has gone “beyond’ the HC’s April 5 order for a preliminary enquiry into the allegations of ex-Mumbai police chief Param Bir Singh claiming malpractices by Deshmukh as minister.
Param Bir Singh’s March 20 letter to CM Uddhav Thackeray didn’t refer to Waze or police transfers, the state counsel said, adding that the HC had clearly given Singh liberty to raise his grievances regarding postings and transfers before an appropriate forum.
Opposing the state’s petition, additional SG S V Raju, for the CBI, said the HC had observed that “there can be no fair probe by the state”, while ordering the preliminary enquiry. The vacation bench of Justices S J Kathawalla and S P Tavade adjourned the matter to Friday.