CBI probe against Maharashtra ex Home Minister Anil Deshmukh to continue.
The CBI investigation against former Maharashtra Minister Anil Deshmukh will continue, with the Supreme Court today rejecting the Maharashtra government's request for a court-monitored probe. "We will not even touch this matter," the Supreme Court said.
The court's decision is a huge setback for the Maharashtra government, which has accused the centre of using agencies like the CBI to target its ministers and leaders.
The Maharashtra government had filed a petition seeking the handover of the CBI's anti-corruption probe against Anil Deshmukh to a court-monitored Special Investigation Team (SIT).
The petition said the CBI's investigation could be biased as former Maharashtra police chief Subodh Kumar Jaiswal was now chief of the investigating agency.
Anil Deshmukh, a senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader, is being investigated over allegations of bribe-taking for police transfers and postings when he was Home Minister of Maharashtra.
Subodh Jaiswal was part of police establishment boards and oversaw transfers and postings, the Maharashtra government said, adding that Mr Jaiswal "should be a witness, if not a potential accused."
But judges SK Kaul and MM Sundresh refused to step in and rejected the petition.
Anil Deshmukh was accused of corruption and bribery by former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh. He was arrested on November 2.
He is being investigated over allegations that he misused his official position and collected Rs 4.70 crore from various bars in Mumbai through a corruption-accused cop, Sachin Waze.
The money was allegedly laundered through funds to Nagpur-based Shri Sai Shikshan Sansthan, an educational trust controlled by the Deshmukh family.
In December, the Bombay High Court had dismissed a similar petition by the Maharashtra government, after which it approached the Supreme Court.