Maharashtra state's Home Affairs Minister Anil Deshmukh handed in his resignation to State Chief Uddhav Thackeray on Monday. This comes hours after the Bombay High Court ordered India's top probe agency – the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) – to start a preliminary inquiry into corruption allegations against him.
While hearing the case, the bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G.S. Kulkarni said the CBI investigation will last 15 days.
"Interest of justice will be done if the director of CBI is allowed to conduct a preliminary inquiry. Once the preliminary inquiry is complete, Director CBI be at discretion to further course of action," the court said.
Former Mumbai Police Chief Parambir Singh sparked a political storm in Maharashtra last month by levelling extortion allegations against State Home Minister Deshmukh.
Singh called for Deshmukh to be investigated for allegedly running a “money collection scheme” through the police department.
Singh claims that Deshmukh asked suspended police officer Sachin Vaze, who was arrested by the federal National Investigation Agency (NIA) for his involvement in the Mukesh Ambani bomb scare case, to collect INR 1 billion ($10.3 million) from bars and restaurants every month.
In his plea, Singh begged the court to quash the 17 March order transferring him from his post of Mumbai police commissioner to the head of the Home Guards against his will. He claims the transfer was done in an “arbitrary and illegal” manner “without the completion of the minimum fixed tenure of two years."
He also alleges that his transfer was "a politically influenced move by certain political parties, aggrieved by the revelation of the corrupt practices of Deshmukh to senior leaders and the state chief [Thackeray]."
Deshmukh denies the allegations.
