Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh has resigned after HC ordered CBI to conduct a probe into corruption charges against him.
Hours after Bombay High Court ordered CBI to conduct a preliminary enquiry against Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh, former Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis had demanded his resignation.
"The Court has directed CBI to conduct a preliminary probe within 15 days against Anil Deshmukh and proceed on the basis of findings. Given HC's decision, he should resign," Fadnavis was quoted as saying by ANI.
Earlier in the day, the Bombay High Court ordered the CBI chief to conduct a preliminary enquiry into the corruption allegations levelled against him by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh.
A bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Girish Kulkarni while terming the case to be "extraordinary and unprecedented" asked the CBI director to complete its enquiry within 15 days.
The judges clarified that the CBI must not register any FIR immediately since the Maharashtra government has already set up a "high-level committee" to deal with the matter.
"The GR issued by the state government for a high-level committee leads us to believe that there is no interference required," Chief Justice Datta said while pronouncing the verdict.
"However, we do agree that this is an unprecedented case before the court. Deshmukh is the home minister who leads the state police force. Thus, there has to be an independent enquiry," the CJ added.
The bench accordingly ordered the CBI director to conduct a preliminary enquiry into the matter but not to register an FIR immediately on the basis of the FIR filed by Pune-based Jaishri Patil, an advocate.
