Mitali Palnitkar
Published On: January 13, 2022 at 20:40 IST
On January 13, 2022; the Delhi High Court stated that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) would not get carried away by the observations made against former Home Minister of Maharashtra Anil Deshmukh. This was in relation to a Trial Court Order which directed to Probe against him in the case of leaking agency’s Preliminary Enquiry (PE) giving clean chit to him.
The Plea of Anil Deshmukh was being heard by Justice Subramonium Prasad. The Petitioner was represented by Senior Advocate Vikram Chaudhari. The CBI was represented by Advocate Nikhil Goel.
Mr. Chaudhari argued that Trial Court could have directed investigation instead of going overboard and pre-judging the role of Petitioner. Mr. Goel argued that CBI was investigating in an independent manner.
Justice Prasad stated, “It is needless to state that a specialized agency like the CBI will not get carried away by the observations made by the Magistrate while ordering further investigation. It is obvious and needless to state that the CBI will act independently.”
In December 2021, Special Judge Sanjeev Aggarwal had directed the CBI to Probe Deshmukh in the case stating that he might be the master mind of the conspiracy though he was not an Accused as he would get benefitted from leaking the documents.
The Trial Court had stated, “It appears that accused persons that is Daga and Tumane were closely associated with Anil Deshmukh and may have been acting in tandem with him, who may be the controlling mind of the larger conspiracy, whereas the accused persons may only be hands, as he would have been and was the main beneficiary from the leakage of the contents of above PE and RC.”
The Trial Court had directed the CBI to investigate the role of Deshmukh in the matter in a time bound manner. The CBI initiated the PE on Bombay High Court Order issued after hearing PIL against Deshmukh for corruption.
The contents were leaked and Deputy Superintendent of Police stated that there was no Cognizable offence against Deshmukh. Based on Deputy SP’s statement, it was converted into FIR. CBI booked him under Sections of Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act.