Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has told the Bombay High Court on Thursday it would share with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) the documents related to the report submitted by senior IPS officer Rashmi Shukla in the case of corruption in police transfers and postings for the latter’s probe against former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh.
Senior counsel Rafique Dada, representing the Maharashtra government, informed the division bench of Justices SS Shinde and NJ Jamadar that the documents – former State Intelligence Department’s head Rashmi Shukla's letter, report, along with the phone interceptions – will be handed over to CBI by August 31.
The HC had earlier this month asked the government to reconsider and had asked it to inform if it was willing to share some of the documents.
The judges observed that such issues should not have come before the court in the first place. “Both of you (state and CBI)…these matters need not come before the court. On many occasions, the state and CBI share documents and information especially on intra-state issues and other offences that are spread over different states,” said the judges.
Justice Shinde also remarked that Maharashtra’s reputation and development has always been one step ahead of other states since Independence. “The state of Maharashtra is a pioneer in many things, not just now but since Independence. We need to maintain that,” said Justice Shinde.
The CBI had sought the letter submitted by Shukla to the then Director General of Police of Maharashtra which included a report on alleged corruption in police transfer and postings, annexures of the report and the panchnama which showed how the documents had been transferred from one department to another.
Dada said that the panchnama cannot be handed over as it is part of an investigation initiated by the Mumbai police in the corruption case.
Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, appearing for the CBI, said that the panchnama is only required to see the chain of events with regard to handing over of the report.
Dada opposed the request and said it was not relevant to the Deshmukh probe.
Adjourning the matter for hearing on September 2, the HC said that it will consider dispute over the panchanama later.
The HC was hearing an application by CBI seeking that the Maharashtra government was not cooperating with their investigation against Deshmukh by refusing to provide documents. The CBI had prayed that the state government should be directed to provide them with documents for the probe against Deshmukh as directed by the HC.
The state government had earlier claimed that the documents sought by CBI did not have any relevance with its probe against Deshmukh.
