Though 15 days have passed since the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a preliminary enquiry (PE) against former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh on the orders of Bombay high court to investigate allegations of corruption and extortion, the agency may take few more days to conclude its findings, two people familiar with the development said on Tuesday.
The reasons for not concluding the preliminary probe are the complex nature of the investigation, CBI’s internal mechanism of reviewing a case at various levels, and unforeseen delays due to surge in Covid-19 cases, they said, adding that the agency does not want to rush its probe though it has recorded the statements of most of the key people in last two weeks.
“The Supreme Court order doesn’t mention that we have to mandatorily finalise the PE in 15 days. It says we must enquire the allegations as soon as possible, preferably in 15 days,” said one of the officers cited above.
“As a rule, the 15-day deadline, or any deadline given by courts, to conclude enquiry/investigations begins from the day CBI receives the certified copy of the order of that particular court -- in this case agency received the copy of Bombay high court order on April 12, so we still have 5-6 days,” he added.
In the last two weeks, a CBI team led by superintendent of police Abhishek Dular has recorded the statements of Deshmukh; his two personal assistants Sanjeev Palande and Kundan Shinde; former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh, who levelled the allegation that the former state home minister asked suspended assistant police inspector Sachin Vaze to collect ₹100 crore every month from bars, restaurants, hotels,and other sources in Mumbai; deputy commissioner of police Raju Bhujbal; advocate Jayshree Patil, who is a petitioner in the case; assistant commissioner of police Sanjay Patil; hotel owner Mahesh Shetty; Vaze; several other Mumbai police officers; and some other hotel and bar owners.
{{/usCountry}}In the last two weeks, a CBI team led by superintendent of police Abhishek Dular has recorded the statements of Deshmukh; his two personal assistants Sanjeev Palande and Kundan Shinde; former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh, who levelled the allegation that the former state home minister asked suspended assistant police inspector Sachin Vaze to collect ₹100 crore every month from bars, restaurants, hotels,and other sources in Mumbai; deputy commissioner of police Raju Bhujbal; advocate Jayshree Patil, who is a petitioner in the case; assistant commissioner of police Sanjay Patil; hotel owner Mahesh Shetty; Vaze; several other Mumbai police officers; and some other hotel and bar owners.
{{/usCountry}}It has also scrutinised records – financial documents, statements of witnesses and people arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) during its February 25 Antilia bomb scare conspiracy and March 5 Mansukh Hiran murder probes.
The agency declined to comment if the investigating officer (IO) has submitted his findings, but a second officer said that there was scrutiny at multiple levels in CBI before the report in finalised.
The PE will be converted into a first information report (FIR) only if there is “prime facie” (at first sight) evidence against Deshmukh, and the agency feels there is need to further investigate the allegations, the second officer said.
Deshmukh, who resigned at Maharashtra’s home minister hours after a CBI probe into Param Bir Singh’s allegations, has consistently denied any wrongdoing.