The Bombay High Court on Tuesday said it would hear on Wednesday the plea filed by former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh, which alleges that Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had directed suspended police officer Sachin Vaze to collect ₹100 crore a month from bars and restaurants.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G.S. Kulkarni was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by Mr. Singh through senior advocate Vikram Nankani, seeking an urgent hearing of the matter. However, the court asked if the PIL was maintainable.
Mr. Nankani urged the Bench for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the plea as the allegations made by Mr. Singh, current Director General of Maharashtra Home Guard, were very serious in nature. He said, “We will satisfy the court with arguments on the maintainability of the petition.”
Meanwhile, another Bench of the Bombay High Court was hearing a petition seeking investigations by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate into the allegations made by Mr. Singh.
A Division Bench of Justices S.S. Shinde and Manish Pitale said the criminal petition filed by advocate Jaishri Patil was seeking “cheap publicity”.
The Bench said, “Please show us some original pleading in your petition. You have only reproduced conversations between the former commissioner and the Home Minster. You are only extracting paragraphs after paragraphs. What is your contribution? What is your original pleading? We cannot allow such copy-pasting. What is your locus? What is your reason for setting the wheels of criminal law in motion?”
A fresh petition was filed on Tuesday before the HC by chartered accountant Mohan Bhide seeking constitution of a special committee headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court to inquire into the allegations made by Mr. Singh.
On Monday, a special National Investigation Agency court extended the custody of two accused — Naresh Gor and Vinayak Shinde — till April 7 in the murder case of Mansukh Hiren soon after an explosives-laden SUV was found outside industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s house.
