Former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh's home was searched by the CBI this morning as the central probe agency filed a corruption case against him. The CBI's preliminary enquiry into the corruption allegations against Mr Deshmukh was completed last Friday. The probe agency has filed a case linked to the corruption allegations made by ex-Mumbai top cop Param Bir Singh.
"A CBI team came to search. I cooperated with them," Mr Deshmukh told reporters in the evening today.
The investigation in the case was handed over earlier this month to the CBI by the Bombay High Court, which gave the probe agency 15 days to decide if the corruption case can be filed or not. Acting on the court orders, the CBI had registered a preliminary enquiry against Anil Deshmukh and several others on April 6.
After filing the case, the CBI is now conducting raids in four locations, including Anil Deshmukh's homes in Mumbai and Nagpur.
Earlier this month, Anil Deshmukh had quit as the state's home minister, citing "moral grounds". The corruption allegations against him had plunged the Uddhav Thackeray-led coalition government into crisis while it battled a surge in Covid infections.
"I don't have the moral right to continue in office after the court order. I have decided to quit. Kindly relieve me from my post," said the resignation letter of Mr Deshmukh, who belongs to Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
Param Bir Singh, who was transferred over alleged "lapses" in the probe in Mukesh Ambani security scare case, had alleged that Mr Deshmukh replaced him because he had complained to Uddhav Thackeray listing several allegations against the minister, including extortion and illegal transfers.
A multi-agency probe is already underway after an explosives-laden SUV was found outside the Mumbai home of Mukesh Ambani, India's richest man.
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