Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh on Thursday filed a petition in Bombay High Court challenging his transfer and seeking CBI investigation in the alleged corrupt malpractices of Maharashtra Home Minister l Deshmukh.
In his plea, he also repeated the graft allegations he had made against Deshmukh in a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, and also accused the Maharashtra Home Minister of interfering in police investigations.
Singh moved to Bombay High Court after the Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to entertain his plea regarding the same.
A bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul allowed Singh to withdraw the plea and approach the High Court.
The Bench said that the allegations and counter-allegations between Singh and Deshmukh are "serious" but the case should be heard by the High Court first.
"No doubt the matter is quite serious, it also appears a lot of material in the public domain due to personas falling apart," the Bench observed while asking senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi appearing for Singh to approach the Bombay High Court.
"There is now another angle to it. The concerned parties were quite hunky-dory for very long. Now having fallen apart, one is making the allegation against the other. It is a serious matter no doubt. The High Court is competent to deal with this issue," the apex court said.
Singh, who was shunted out as Mumbai Police Commissioner in the wake of the Antilia bomb scare case, has also challenged the government's order to transfer him from the post of Mumbai Police Commissioner.
Singh, who was recently transferred, has alleged wrote to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray claiming Deshmukh's involvement in severe "malpractices".
However, l Deshmukh on Saturday refuted all the allegations made by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh against him. Deshmukh said the police officer made these false allegations to save himself from legal action.
( With inputs from ANI )
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