The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday told the Bombay High Court that it will not act till June 9 on letters it sent to the Maharashtra government about complaints of alleged corruption in police postings and transfers, reported Live Law.

A bench of Justices SJ Kathawalla and SP Tavade was hearing a plea petition filed by the Maharashtra government, seeking to remove two paragraphs from the first information report registered against former state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh in April.

One of the paragraphs mentions that the CBI in its preliminary report had found that Deshmukh was aware that now suspended Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Vaze was reinstated into the police after 15 years and that sensitive and sensational cases were given to him. The second paragraph says that Deshmukh exercised “undue influence” over the transfer and postings of police officers. The complaints about corruption in postings and transfers were lodged by Rashmi Shukla, the additional director general of the Central Reserve Police Force’s South Zone, reported PTI.

The central agency had registered the FIR against Deshmukh following an order from the High Court on April 5.

On Wednesday, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for the CBI, told the High Court that the state government’s petition should be heard by the same bench that had passed the April 5 order. Raju said that the matter of removing the paragraphs pertains to the scope of that order. A bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice GS Kulkarni had passed the order.

The High Court agreed with the submission, saying that it will be easier for the bench that passed the April 5 order to take a call on the matter. “But then you [CBI] will have to agree that till it goes before that bench you will not insist on those letters you are asking them to provide,” the High Court said. Raju agreed to it but said that it was only in relation to the CBI seeking the documents.

The High Court accepted the statement and directed the registry office to place the state government’s plea before the bench of Datta and Kulkarni on June 8.

“It is made clear that the statement made by the CBI will continue up to June 9,” the High Court added.

Senior counsel Rafique Dada, appearing for the state government, had said last week that the documents sought by the CBI were confidential in nature and cannot be shared. Dada had claimed that the central agency was using the FIR against Deshmukh as a pretext to inquire into the entire state administration.

The case

On March 20, Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh had accused Deshmukh of extorting money from bars, restaurants and hookah parlours in Mumbai. In a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, singh wrote that suspended Vaze told him that the minister had asked him to collect Rs 100 crore every month through illegal channels.

Vaze was suspended and sent into the custody of the National Investigation Agency for his alleged role in placing the explosives-laden vehicle at Carmichael Road, near the residence of industrialist Mukesh Ambani in Mumbai, on March 15. Two days later, Singh, who was handling the investigation, was transferred from his position to the low-key Home Guard department by the state government. Singh had made the allegations after his transfer.

Though Deshmukh has constantly denied any impropriety, he resigned from the state Cabinet on April 5 after the Bombay High Court directed the CBI to conduct a preliminary inquiry into allegations against him. On April 8, the Supreme Court had dismissed the Maharashtra government and Deshmukh’s petitions to cancel the CBI inquiry against him.