Bombay High Court verdict on July 22 on Anil Deshmukh’s plea to quash FIR

The Bombay High Court will give its verdict on July 22 on pleas filed by former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh seeking to quash the FIR against him, and the Maharashtra government seeking to delete two paragraphs in the FIR.

A division bench of justices SS Shinde and NJ Jamadar will pronounce the judgment. Mr. Deshmukh’s petition seeks to quash the CBI’s FIR against him that alleges corruption in a letter written by former police commissioner Param Bir Singh to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

After a letter was filed mentioning instances of Mr. Deshmukh directing dismissed assistant police inspector Sachin Vaze to collect ₹100 crore from bars and restaurants every month. A public interest litigation petition was filed before the High Court in which another bench of the court directed the CBI to conduct a preliminary inquiry against Mr. Deshmukh that subsequently led to the registration of the FIR.

The other petition before the same bench was filed through the Additional Chief Secretary of the Home Department seeking to delete two unnumbered paragraphs in the FIR that mentions the reinstatement of Mr. Vaze, an accused in the custodial death of a 22-year-old Khwaja Yunus in 2008, and the transfer of some other police officers.

Senior counsel Rafique Dada, appearing for State of Maharashtra had argued, “We [the State] was not against the FIR filed by the CBI, but has exception against two unnumbered paragraphs which refer to Mr. Vaze being reinstated and that of the alleged interference in the transfers and postings of policemen.”

Mr. Deshmukh is booked under sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and section 7 (public servant taking gratification other than legal remuneration in respect of an official act) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.