Former Maharashtra Home Minister and senior NCP leader Anil Deshmukh on Wednesday had appeared before the CBI in connection with the corruption charges made by former Mumbai Commissioner Param Bir Singh, who accused the minister of extortion of Rs 100 crore from restaurants and bars every month.
Deshmukh (70) was seen entering the DRDO & IAF guest house at Kalina in Mumbai.
After hearing several pleas, a bench of the Bombay HC comprising chief justice Dipankar Datta and justice Girish Kulkarni on April 5 has asked the CBI to carry out a preliminary enquiry (PE) and submit a report in a fortnight.
What are the 10 questions that CBI may ask Deshmukh?
- What do you have to say about the allegations of Parambir Singh?
- During your tenure as Home Minister, what was your mode of work, did you give orders directly to the junior officers and did they report directly to you?
- How do you know API Sachin Vaze and did you call him at your official bungalow Dnyaneshwar and order to collect the funds?
- Do you know Sanjay Patil, ACP Social Service Branch and did you give him a target of recovery?
- Did you ask him and some other police officers to deposit 100 crore rupees every month?
- Did you ask him to collect Rs 2 to 2.5 lakh rupees from 1,750 bars and restaurants and other establishments in Mumbai?
- Did you demand Rs 2 crore from Sachin Vaze in the name of Sharad Pawar for appointing him?
- During your meeting with Vaze, was your secretary Mr Palande present there?
- What was your role in the appointment of Sachin Vaze and did Parambir Singh had any discussions with you about the appointment?
- Did you pressurize the police officers to commit suicide in the case of the death of Mohan Delkar, MP of Dadra and Nagar Haveli?
Earlier, on Sunday, Deshmukh's personal secretary Sanjeev Palande and Kundan Shinde too were grilled by the CBI for 10 hours.
A special investigating team from Delhi has been interrogating people whose name has been taken in connection with the case. Over the past week, the CBI has started recording statements – the first being the activist-lawyer Jaishri Patil, one his plea, the probe was ordered. Others whose statements were recorded included Singh, Vaze, deputy commissioner of police Raju Bhujbal, assistant commissioner of police Sanjay Patil, who was questioned for 5 hours. The CBI considers Patil's statement to be important, as they will interrogate Deshmukh based on Patil's statement.
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Mumbai-ex-top cop Parambir Singh had sought a CBI inquiry against Deshmukh in an application filed in the Bombay High Court on 25 March, claiming that Deshmukh had asked other officers, including suspended police officer Sachin Vazh, to recover Rs 100 crore from bars and restaurants. On this application, the High Court had said that this is an extraordinary case, which requires independent and impartial investigation.