Anil Deshmukh case: Mumbai Police not cooperating, threatening officers, CBI to Bombay HC

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has approached Bombay High Court, saying that the Maharashtra government is not cooperating with its team investigating corruption charges against former state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh. The central agency said that the state government was not cooperating despite clear orders from the High Court.

The CBI said that instead of co-operating, a Mumbai ACP is threatening CBI officer investigating this case. CBI counsel Anil Singh informed a division bench of Justices S S Shinde and N J Jamadar that some of agency officers were "threatened by an assistant commissioner of police".

To this, the court said that it would issue a notice to the state government and directed public prosecutor Aruna Kamat Pai to respond to the claims that CBI officers were threatened.

“We are issuing notice to the government. Some ACP is threatening the CBI officers. Find out what the situation is. Please do not create an unfair situation that we have to take them (police) to task," the bench was quoted as saying by PTI.

The bench also directed the central investigating agency to add additional chief secretary (Home department) of the state as a respondent to the application.

“Please ensure that the directions given by this court and the order passed earlier are followed in letter and spirit,” the court told the state government.

In its application, the CBI said it had written a letter to the State Intelligence Department, seeking details of a communication sent by senior IPS officer Rashmi Shukla on the issue of corruption in police transfers and postings. But, the CBI said, the SID refused to provide the documents, claiming they were part of an ongoing investigation.

On 22 July, the High Court had held that the central agency can inquire into the allegations of corruption in transfers and postings of police personnel and dismissed a petition filed by the state government, seeking that some parts of CBI FIR against Deshmukh be quashed.

The Maharashtra government stated that it was approaching the Supreme Court against the HC order, therefore it will not be sharing the documents with the CBI, the agency told the HC.

"This was in clear violation of the order of the High Court which categorically had refused a stay on its order and no such order had yet been obtained from the Supreme Court," the CBI said.

The HC said the government may be challenging the July 22 order in the SC, but the concern presently is that the government was not handing over the documents sought by the CBI.

The court then issued a notice to the state government on the application filed by the CBI, seeking a direction to the state to provide documents needed for the probe against Anil Deshmukh.

(With inputs from PTI)