New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India has discarded the Maharashtra government's plea seeking the court's direction to transfer the probe on a case against former minister Anil Deshmukh from CBI to the special investigation team (SIT), IANS reported.
The SC bench headed by Justice Kishan Kaul dismissed the plea outright. It refused to intervene with the Bombay High Court order, which also declined to allow the state government's petition seeking a court-monitored investigation by an SIT on Deshmukh.
Maharashtra submitted before the SC that the state government objected to the ongoing CBI investigation on Deshmukh, while Subodh Kumar Jaiswal remains the agency's director. Senior advocate C.A. Sundaram, appearing for the Maharashtra government, argued that Jaiswal was the former DGP of Maharashtra and also chairman of the police establishment board at the relevant time. The board examined the transfer and posting of the police officers concerned, he said.
He said that the CBI chief could be an accused or definitely a witness. "if this is the situation that has arisen, your lordship may constitute SIT or whoever to investigate the matter," he said. Nevertheless, the court did not budge.
The CBI registered a case against Deshmukh, a senior National Congress Party leader, and others on Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section120B of the Indian Penal Code. Deshmukh is accused of bribe-taking for police transfers and postings during his term as home minister.