In a blow to the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, Nationalist Congress Party leader and Home Minister of state Anil Deshmukh has resigned from his poisition. The leader has handed over his resignation to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, but the CM is yet to accept his resignation.
On the decision over Deshmukh's resignation, "the Home Minister himself and other leaders from NCP met chief Sharad Pawar and have said that Deshmukh doesn't want to remain in the post," said leader Nawab Malik. He also said that Deshmukh had gone to tender his resignation to the CM and the party has requested the CM to accept his resignation.
Mr Deshmukh's decision comes after the Bombay High Court's order to the CBI to conduct a prelimenary enquiry into the corruption allegations levelled against him by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh.
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.
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 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.
The bench was seized with a plea filed by Param Bir Singh seeking a thorough probe into his allegations by an independent agency like the CBI. The former top cop had alleged that the home minister had instructed arrested cop Sachin Vaze to collect Rs 100 crore per month from various bars and restaurants.
