Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh resigns after Bombay High Court verdict allowing preliminary inquiry by CBI

Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh resigned from the post on Monday after the Bombay High Court passed a judgment allowing Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct a preliminary enquiry into the allegations of malpractices levelled against Deshmukh by former Commissioner of Mumbai Police Param Bir Singh..Referring to the order of the High Court, Deshmukh stated in his resignation letter that "it felt morally inappropriate to continue as the Home Minister and hence he took a decision to stay away from the post.".Nawab Malik, spokesperson of the National Congress Party has informed that Deshmukh expressed his desire to step down as Home Minister after the High Court verdict came out. "He wanted a fair enquiry as ordered by the State government and on Monday by the High Court." Malik said..He accordingly approached the President of National Congress Party Sharad Pawar who accepted his resignation..The High Court in its judgment had granted CBI 15 days to conduct preliminary inquiry while adding that the CBI need not immediately register an FIR in the case."Director of CBI is allowed to conduct preliminary inquiry. Such preliminary inquiry be ordered in accordance with law and be concluded within 15 days Once the preliminary inquiry is complete, director CBI (would) be at discretion to (decide on the) further course of action", the High Court said today..Singh's plea seeking CBI probe came close in the heels of a letter written by Singh to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray alleging that Deshmukh used to frequently interfere with police investigations and repeatedly call officers and give them instructions on the course of action to be followed by them while conducting investigations..Singh claimed that Deshmukh had held meetings in February, 2021 at his residence with police officers including Sachin Vaze of Crime Intelligence Unit, Mumbai and Sanjay Patil, ACP Social Service Branch, Mumbai, "bypassing their seniors and had instructed them that he had a target to accumulate Rs. 100 crores every month and had directed (the police officer) to collect money from various establishments and other sources.".Deshmukh had also responded by issuing a press release calling Singh's allegations as unfounded and an attempt to defame and blackmail the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, an alliance of Shiv Sena, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party of Maharashtra..He said in the release that he will file a defamation suit against Singh for making false allegations in the letter which was widely publicised in the media.[Read Anil Deshmukh's resignation letter here]