New Delhi: Terming the legal clash between former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh and former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh as “battle royale”, the Supreme Court on Thursday ordered a CBI probe into all cases lodged against Singh by the Maharashtra Police.
Emphasising that an impartial probe into the matter is required, it clarified that it is not revoking Singh’s suspension, and also, if there were any FIRs registered against Singh in future, then these will also be transferred to the CBI.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and MM Sundresh said the CBI must hold an impartial probe in all the aspects of the matter and examine whether the allegations in the FIRs have any truth or not.
“What is the truth, who is at fault… How does such a scenario come to prevail is something which investigation must get into. CBI must hold an impartial inquiry into all these aspects,” it said.
It directed the Maharashtra Police to hand over all the cases, which includes 5 FIRs and two PEs, to the CBI within a week and render all assistance to the central agency in its probe into the cases against Singh.
Justice Kaul observed that a very murky affair is going on amid echelons of power on who should investigate the matter.
“The exigencies in the advancement of principles of justice require the investigation to be transferred to CBI… We are not saying the appellant is a whistle-blower or anyone involved in this case is washed with milk,” the bench noted.
It also stressed that the objective is to embolden and gain people’s confidence in the police and this is not a reflection on Maharashtra Police.
“The troubling situation arising at the higher echelons has been presented before us,” said the bench.
Senior advocate Darius Khambata, representing the Maharashtra government, vehemently argued that cases should not be transferred to the CBI, as it will be very demoralising for the state police.