No Evidence Against Deshmukh in Leaked CBI Report, Says Cong; Seeks SC Probe

Report said there was "no congnisable offence committed by former Home Minister of Maharashtra Anil Deshmukh."

File Photo: Anil Deshmukh, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter)

As per a leaked report, a preliminary inquiry conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had reportedly concluded that there was "no congnisable offence committed by former Home Minister of Maharashtra Anil Deshmukh" in the extortion case involving former Mumbai police chief Param Bir Singh.

However, the CBI inquiry was 'overrode' as a part of the 'conspiracy' against the leader, Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawan stated, demanding a Supreme Court-monitored probe in the matter.

Further, Sawant also asked Union Home Minister Amit Shah to take responsibility and resign.

On 24 April, after the CBI's preliminary enquiry, a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against Deshmukh.

The leader of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) had stepped down from the post of home minister in April after he was accused of corruption by former Mumbai police chief Param Bir Singh. Singh had alleged that Deshmukh had asked the former Assistant Police Inspector in Mumbai Police, Sachin Vaze, to collect Rs 100 crore from hotel owners in Mumbai.

“Modi government's conspiracy to defame the MVA [Maha Vikas Aghadi] has been exposed. The CBI official in his primary investigation had concluded that Anil Deshmukh had no role in the Param Bir Singh's allegation of Rs 100 crore extortion and had closed the enquiry," Sawant tweeted in Marathi on Sunday, 29 August.

Further, NCP chief Nawab Malik underlined that the Investigation Officer (IO) who conducted the probe found no evidence against Deshmukh, and asked for shutting down the investigation. However, he alleged, "But the senior officers of the CBI who were under political influence overruled the IO probe and filed the FIR against Deshmukh," The New Indian Express reported.

(With inputs from The New Indian Express.)