The Supreme Court is expected to hear former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh’s plea seeking an “impartial and fair investigation” by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh whom he has accused of numerous acts of alleged corruption and criminality.
A two-judge bench, comprising Justices S K Kaul and R S Reddy, is likely to hear the petition today (Wednesday, March 24).
The former Mumbai top cop, who is presently in the eye of the storm of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), in his petition before the apex court also challenged his transfer to the Home Guards stating this was done in an “arbitrary and illegal” manner without the completion of the minimum fixed tenure of two years in violation of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India.
In a sensational revelation, Singh in an eight-page letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray alleged that Anil Deshmukh has been involved in several 'malpractices' and even asked the now-suspended cop Sachin Vaze to collect Rs 100 crore bars and restaurants in Mumbai every month.
Besides extorting money, Singh accused Deshmukh of taking bribes for transfers/postings of police personnel and regularly interfering in investigation of crimes by dictating the direction of the probe to policemen.
It is to be noted that Singh was transferred last week from the Mumbai Police Commissioner’s post in the midst of a probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into the recovery of an explosives-laden SUV near Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani’s residence.