The Maharashtra government has approached the Bombay High Court challenging the summons issued by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to state Chief Secretary Sitaram Kunte and Director General of Police (DGP) Sanjay Pandey. The CBI had ordered them to appear before it in connection with its probe against the former state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.
On Wednesday, a division bench of justices Nitin Jamdar and Sarang Kotwal said that they will hear the government’s petition on October 20.
The CBI recently summoned Kunte and Pandey for the third time.
This comes after the Mumbai Police asked CBI director Subodh Jaiswal to appear before the Cyber Police Station located at Bandra Kurla Complex.
The cyber police are investigating the leak of the controversial phone tapping report prepared by IPS officer Rashmi Shukla, then head of the State Intelligence Department.
On March 20, former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh wrote a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray alleging that the then home minister Anil Deshmukh had asked dismissed police officer, Sachin Waze, to collect Rs 100 crore every month from restaurants and bars in the city.
Singh had also alleged political interference in transfers and postings of police officers.
Following an April 5 order of the HC, the CBI conducted a preliminary enquiry and filed an FIR against Deshmukh and others on April 21. The central agency summoned Kunte and Pandey in connection with the probe in this FIR.
