Terming the corruption row involving senior police officers and former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh as a “messy state of affairs”, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the Maharashtra police not to take any action against former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and M M Sundresh said it would soon decide whether to transfer to the CBI the probe into all cases against Singh, while the Maharashtra government said all the cases could not be transferred to the Central agency.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Maharashtra government to completely hold back the ongoing investigation against former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh over the allegations of misconduct and corruption.
The bench, while expressing concern over the ‘messy state of affairs’ highlighted by the ongoing legal battle between Singh with the state administration, said that “it is a very, very unfortunate situation”.
The top court said, “It has the propensity of unnecessarily shaking the confidence of people in the police system. Process of law must be carried out in a manner.” The apex court said that it would take a call on whether the FIRs lodged by the Maharashtra police against Singh be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or not, and asked the state government to keep its hands off from those cases till it decides the issue.
It recorded in its order that the state government had given its assurance to put the matter on hold while the top court is considering the matter.
It has asked the parties to file a written synopsis and posted the matter for hearing on March 9.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CBI, told the bench that it was in the interest of things that all cases herein be investigated by the Central probe agency.
Earlier, the bench had allowed Mumbai Police to carry on the investigation against Singh but restrained it from filing charge sheets on the FIRs against him over the allegations of misconduct and corruption.
It had also observed that it was a ‘disturbing scenario’ that Singh did not have trust in the police force which he once headed and the Maharashtra government had no faith in the CBI.
The apex court was hearing a petition filed by Singh seeking protection from coercive steps by the Mumbai police in the cases registered against him.
On the previous date of hearing, senior advocate Puneet Bali, appearing for Singh, had told the bench that the former Mumbai police commissioner was being targeted and the state government was trying to scuttle the probe.
Cases were registered against Singh over allegations of misconduct, corruption and extortion and the apex court had sought the CBI's view on probing the cases as they are interlinked with matters already under the investigation of the Central agency.
The apex court had also granted interim protection to Singh from arrest.
