Former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh on Monday filed a petition in the Bombay High Court seeking to quash the FIR registered against him by the Central Bureau of Investigation on the charges of corruption.
He also sought interim orders granting him protection from any coercive action.
The plea is likely to be heard by a division bench of Justices S S Shinde and Manish Pitale this week.
The CBI on April 21 registered an FIR against the NCP leader under section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act which deals with illegal gratification obtained by a public servant and section 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The CBI had initiated a preliminary enquiry (PE) against Mr Deshmukh on orders of the Bombay High Court based on the petitions filed by advocate Jayshri Patil and former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh, who had levelled allegations of corruption and malpractices against the NCP leader.
In his letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Mr Singh had alleged that Deshmukh had asked API Sachin Waze, currently probed by the NIA in the cases of ''Antilia'' bomb scare and the Mansukh Hiran murder, to collect Rs 100 crore as bribe from bars and restaurants in Mumbai every month.
Mr Singh wrote the letter after he was shunted from the post of the Mumbai police commissioner and appointed as the DG, state Home Guards.
The CBI had questioned Mr Deshmukh and conducted searches at his premises. The Central agency had also questioned Mr Singh and others.
Mr Deshmukh, who had rejected the allegations levelled against him, resigned as home minister on April 5 after the High Court ordered the preliminary enquiry against him.
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