Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh has resigned in the wake of the Bombay High Court order instituting a CBI probe against him following allegations made by former Mumbai Police chief Param Bir Singh. Mr Deshmukh had rejected calls for his resignation for weeks, saying he had done nothing wrong. "Since CBI is now going to investigate him, it is not correct for him to now stay on the position," said a leader of Mr Deshmukh's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
Param Bir Singh, who was recently replaced as Mumbai Police chief, has alleged in a petition that he was targeted because he had complained to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray about Anil Deshmukh, listing several allegations including extortion and illegal transfers. "I have no comments to make," Mr Singh had told reporters on the court order. In the previous hearing, the High Court had asked Mr Singh repeatedly why no FIR was filed on his allegations against the Maharashtra Home Minister. Singh first made the allegations in an explosive letter to the Chief Minister after his transfer. Mr Deshmukh, the former top cop had said, had asked police officers, including Sachin Waze -- arrested by the National Investigation Agency in the case of an SUV carrying explosives parked near industrialist Mukesh Ambani's home in Mumbai - to collect ₹ 100 crore each month from bars and restaurants. The petition also accused Mr Deshmukh of corruption in police transfers and postings, based on allegations by an IPS officer, Rashmi Shukla. Mr Deshmukh has denied the allegations, which have caused a rift within ruling coalition partners Shiv Sena and NCP.