Thackeray accepts Deshmukh's resignation, Walse Patil takes charge of home dept

Maha CM accepts Deshmukh's resignation, Dilip Walse Patil given charge of home dept

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Dilip Walse Patil will take over as Maharashtra's new home minister after chief minister Uddhav Thackeray accepted Anil Deshmukh's resignation on Monday evening. Deshmukh, also an NCP leader, resigned over allegations of corruption levelled against him by former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh.

Dilip Walse Patil will take over as state home minister. (Anshuman Poyrekar/Hindustan Times)

In the resignation letter sent to Thackeray, Deshmukh said he doesn't find it morally correct to continue as the home minister after the order of Bombay high court, which earlier on Monday ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct a preliminary investigation against him.

The high court observed that there can no independent probe into the allegations of corruption against Deshmukh if the investigation is handed to Mumbai Police, which is headed by the state home minister. The court order came on a petition by Singh and others which claimed that Deshmukh was running an "extortion racket". Singh's accusations came after he was transferred to the Home Guards for improper handling of the Ambani bomb scare case. Singh alleged that the former state home minister Anil Deshmukh appointed suspended cop Sachin Vaze to collect ₹100 crore every month from various establishments in Mumbai.

The claims were first made by Singh in a letter to Thackeray. He also approached the Supreme Court, which directed Singh to move the high court against Deshmukh.

After the Bombay High Court's order, a meeting was held between the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar at Sharad Pawar's residence Silver Oak in south Mumbai where the issue was discussed in detail.

State rural development minister Hassan Mushrif will be taking over the labour portfolio while deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar will take over the excise department.