by NEW DELHI: A Delhi court has directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the role of former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh in a document leak case.
The CBI in its FIR alleged that the central agency’s sub-inspector Abhishek Tiwari had entered into a criminal conspiracy with Deshmukh’s lawyer Anand Daga and unknown persons, and disclosed sensitive and confidential documents to Daga. Tiwari, the FIR said, did this for subverting CBI’s investigation in an extortion case allegedly related to Deshmukh, in lieu of undue advantage and illegal gratification to himself.
Special Judge Sanjeev Aggarwal said that from the reading of the chargesheet as a whole, and relevant record, it appears that other accused persons were closely associated with Deshmukh, and may have been acting in tandem with him, who may be the controlling mind of the larger conspiracy. It said that other accused persons might only be hands, as Deshmukh would have been and was the main beneficiary from the leakage of the documents. The court also pulled up the CBI for forsaking the “man pulling the strings” and directed it to thoroughly probe the role of Deshmukh.
“The CBI seems to have left the engine/horse pulling the cart, thereby only arraigning those travelling in the cart. Without the pull of the engine or horse, the ride of the cart or conspiracy would not have been possible. Despite a mountain of apparent evidence, CBI seems to have forsaken the man pulling the strings or the controlling mind or master mind or head while only chargesheeting the hands, for reasons best known,” the court said in an order dated December 22.
It asked the CBI to discreetly and thoroughly investigate Deshmukh’s role with utmost alacrity and in a time-bound manner. The court also directed the CBI to file a status report in this regard within four weeks.
On August 29, the report allegedly mentions that the probe agency had concluded that “no cognizable offence has been committed by Anil Deshmukh.”
The CBI in its FIR alleged that the central agency’s sub-inspector Abhishek Tiwari had entered into a criminal conspiracy with Deshmukh’s lawyer Anand Daga and unknown persons, and disclosed sensitive and confidential documents to Daga. Tiwari, the FIR said, did this for subverting CBI’s investigation in an extortion case allegedly related to Deshmukh, in lieu of undue advantage and illegal gratification to himself.
Special Judge Sanjeev Aggarwal said that from the reading of the chargesheet as a whole, and relevant record, it appears that other accused persons were closely associated with Deshmukh, and may have been acting in tandem with him, who may be the controlling mind of the larger conspiracy. It said that other accused persons might only be hands, as Deshmukh would have been and was the main beneficiary from the leakage of the documents. The court also pulled up the CBI for forsaking the “man pulling the strings” and directed it to thoroughly probe the role of Deshmukh.
“The CBI seems to have left the engine/horse pulling the cart, thereby only arraigning those travelling in the cart. Without the pull of the engine or horse, the ride of the cart or conspiracy would not have been possible. Despite a mountain of apparent evidence, CBI seems to have forsaken the man pulling the strings or the controlling mind or master mind or head while only chargesheeting the hands, for reasons best known,” the court said in an order dated December 22.
It asked the CBI to discreetly and thoroughly investigate Deshmukh’s role with utmost alacrity and in a time-bound manner. The court also directed the CBI to file a status report in this regard within four weeks.
On August 29, the report allegedly mentions that the probe agency had concluded that “no cognizable offence has been committed by Anil Deshmukh.”
