State has no locus to file petition: CBI to Bombay High Court in Maharashtra plea challenging parts of FIR against Anil Deshmukh

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today raised objections to the plea filed in the Bombay High Court by the Maharashtra government challenging certain portions of the First Information Report (FIR) registered against former Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.

Appearing for CBI, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted to the Bench of Justices SS Shinde and NJ Jamadar,

"State has no locus to file this petition. If a petition should have been filed, it should have been filed by an accused."

He also objected to the Maharashtra government filing this petition under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) on the ground that it pre-empted an investigation by CBI against some individual.

Mehta's submissions were in furtherance to Dr. Jaishri Patil's objection to the maintainability of the petition.

She had submitted that the plea referred to an investigation against Mumbai officer Sachin Waze, and hence, he was a necessary party who was not added as a party in the petition.

Senior Advocate Rafique Dada, appearing for the Maharashtra government, requested the Court to direct Patil to file a proper intervention pleading before the Court so that the State can respond to the averments.

Conceding to the request, Patil made a statement to the Court that she would do so by Monday, June 14.

The hearing was deferred to next week to ensure that all pleadings are complete. In the mean time, the Court asked Mehta to extend CBI's assurance that it would not act on letters asking the Maharashtra government to produce certain documents related to its investigation against Deshmukh till the next date of hearing.

Mehta agreed to this. The hearing was deferred to June 18.

The Maharashtra government had challenged certain portions of the FIR registered against Deshmukh on the ground that the investigation into those aspects intended to destabilise the Shiv Sena-Congress-NCP government in the State.

Dada contended that the FIR has travelled beyond the limits permitted by the High Court. He submitted that the information sought by CBI to investigate the case involved documents and digital devices which were in no manner within the scope of inquiry permitted by the Court.

The FIR was registered by CBI against Deshmukh after the Bombay High Court had given permission for inquiry on April 5, in a petition filed by Param Bir Singh, former Commissioner of Mumbai Police.