The CBI grilled Maharashtra’s former Home Minister Anil Deshmukh for eight-long hours on Wednesday in connection with the Preliminary Enquiry (PE) into the allegations of corruption made against him by Mumbai’s former Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh.
Three days after it questioned his personal assistants Sanjeev Palande and Kundan Shinde, the CBI subjected the former Home Minister to intense grilling on various issues relating to the former police commissioner’s allegation that he had asked now suspended and incarcerated police officer Sachin Vaze last month to “collect” a staggering Rs 100 crore per month from bars, restaurants and other sources.
Deshmukh reached the DRDO Guest House at Kalina in north Mumbai around 10 am. He was questioned by two Superintendent of Police ranked CBI officers.
Deshmukh was quizzed by the CBI on various issues relating to the letter written by the former police commissioner to the Chief Minister.
Param Bir’s letter to the CM on March 20 mentioned allegations of extortion against the former Home Minister, and also on the responses they elicited from his assistants during its questioning on Sunday.
The CBI officials also questioned Deshmukh on a four-page letter that Vaze had written to the Special NIA court on April 3, accusing him (Deshmukh) and another Maharashtra Minister Anil Parab of asking him to Indulge in extortion for them.
The CBI questioned Deshmukh as part of the Preliminary Enquiry (PE) ordered against him by the Bombay High Court on April 5. The high court has asked the CBI to complete the PE within 15 days of the agency receiving a copy of its order.
It may be recalled that three days after he was shunted and posted in a relatively insignificant post as the Commandant General of Home Guards, Singh had in an eight-page sensational letter written to the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on March 20 alleged that State Home Minister Deshmukh had asked now arrested and suspended police officer Sachin Vaze last month to “collect” a staggering Rs 100 crore per month from bars, restaurants and other sources.
In the operative part of his much-discussed explosive letter, Singh wrote: “.... Sachin Vaze who was heading the Crime Intelligence Unit of the Crime Branch of the Mumbai Police was called by Shri Anil Deshmukh, Hon’ble Home Minister, Maharashtra to his official residence Dyaneshwar several times in last few months and repeatedly instructed to assist in collection of funds for the Hon’ble Home Minister,” Singh wrote in his letter.
“In and around mid-February and thereafter, the Hon’ble Home Minister had called Shri Vaze to his official residence. At that time, one or two staff members of the Hon’ble Home Minister including his Personal Secretary, Mr. Palande, were also present,” Singh stated.
“The Hon’ble Home Minister expressed to Vaze that he had a target to accumulate Rs. 100 crore a month. For achieving the aforesaid target, the Hon’ble Home Minister told Shri Vaze that there are about 1,750 bars, restaurants and other establishments in Mumbai and if a sum of Rs. 2-3 lakh each was collected from each of them, a monthly collection of Rs. 40-50 crore was achievable. The Hon’ble Home Minister added that the rest of the collection could be made from other sources,” the former CP wrote.
“Vaze came to my office the same day and informed me of the above. I was shocked with the above discussion and was mulling over how to deal with the situation,” Singh said.
In his letter, Mumbai’s former police commissioner went on to allege that Deshmukh’s personal secretary Palande informed Assistant Commissioner of Police Sanjay Patil, ACP, Social Service Branch - who had been called to the Home Minister’s residence a few days later - that Deshmukh “was targeting a collection of Rs 40-50 crore which was possible through an approximate 1,750 bars, restaurants and establishments operating in Mumbai”.
On his part, State Home Minister Deshmukh - in a tweet put in the evening --debunked Singh’s charge and said: “The former Commissioner of Police, Param Bir Singh has made false allegations in order to save himself as the involvement of Sachin Waze in Mukesh Ambani & Mansukh Hiren’s case is becoming clearer from the investigation carried out so far & threads are leading to Mr Singh as well”.
On March 25, after the Supreme Court refused to entertain his similar plea, Mumbai’s former Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh moved the Bombay High Court, seeking a CBI investigation into the alleged corruption charges against Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.
A day after the apex court said the matter flagged by him as “very serious affecting administration of a State” but asked him to move the high court, Singh filed a criminal Public Interest Litigation (PIL) reiterating his earlier allegations and seeking an “immediate, unbiased, impartial” CBI probe against Deshmukh.
On March 30, the Maharashtra Government on Tuesday appointed retired judge of the Bombay High Court Kailash Uttamchand Chandiwal to probe into the former CP’s charges against Deshmukh.
In the terms of reference for the judicial probe ordered by it, the State Government said that the retired judge would look into whether the former Police Commissioner had produced any evidence to establish that either Deshmukh or any officer in the Home Minister’s office had indulged in any irregularity or crime.
Justice (retired)Kailash Uttamchand Chandiwal-headed judicial committee has been asked to submit its report to the State Government within next six months.
On April 5, Deshmukh resigned as the State Home Minister within hours after the Bombay High Court ordered a “Preliminary Enquiry” (PE) by the CBI into the serious charges of corruption made against him by Singh.
A HC division bench ordered a PE by the CBI on the ground that “there can be no fair, impartial, unbiased and untainted probe, if the same were entrusted to the State police force”, prompting Deshmukh to put in his papers saying that in the wake of high court’s order, “it is not morally prudent on my part to continue in the post.