Mumbai Nov 24 PTI The Maharashtra government on Wednesday denied before the Bombay High Court the CBIs allegation that it was trying to obstruct the central agencys probe against Anil Deshmukh a former state home ministerSenior counsel Darius Khambata the states lawyer said it had nothing to do with DeshmukhThe state government has moved the court against the Central Bureau of Investigations summons to chief secretary Sitaram Kunte and Director General of Police Sanjay Pandey as part of the probe against DeshmukhI Maharashtra government am not concerned with him Please investigate him Go ahead and do whatever you want with him the lawyer saidKhambata made the argument while objecting to the CBIs decision to submit some material related to the probe in a sealed coverThe agency must submit everything in the open court he told a bench of Justices Nitin Jamdar and S V KotwalKhambata also pointed out that when the Maharashtra government wanted to submit some documents related to IPS officer Rashmi Shuklas case in a sealed cover the high court asked it to make submissions in the open courtThe CBI is investigating allegations of corruption against Deshmukh after former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh accused him of asking police officials to collect money from bars and restaurantsIn September the CBI issued summons to chief secretary Kunte and DGP Pandey for questioning in connection with the probeThe Maharashtra government then moved the HC seeking that the summons be quashed as Kunte and Pandey had nothing to do with this probe The summons was a harassment tactic it allegedAdditional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi who appeared for the CBI said the CBI wanted to submit in a sealed envelop some material to show how the process of transfers and postings of police officers was interfered with and controlled by Deshmukh We want to show to the court how all the constraints and restraints of law were abandoned altogether Lekhi said These documents that the CBI wishes to submit are necessary to show the direction of the investigation the issuance of summons he saidKhambata said this had no bearing on the state governments petitionThe state seeks continuation of the investigation but under the supervision of this court he saidThe Union governments lawyer accused him of double speak This is double speak An Orwellian habit You say you want the investigation to go on and yet you fault the investigation Lekhi said The state claims to be not concerned with Deshmukh yet it alleges malafide and continues to be concerned with the investigation he addedThe arguments will continue on Thursday PTI AYA KRK KRK

Mumbai Aug 24 PTI The Maharashtra government told the Bombay High Court on Tuesday that it would amicably resolve with CBI the issue of sharing documents with the central agency over its probe against former state home minister Anil Deshmukh The state government had earlier claimed the documents sought by the Central Bureau of Investigation CBI did not have any relevance to the agencys probe into allegations of corruption against NCP leader Deshmukh A division bench of Justices S S Shinde and N J Jamadar was hearing an application filed by the CBI alleging that the state government was not cooperating by refusing to hand over certain documents in connection with the probe against Deshmukh The court last week asked the state government to reconsider over the matter and asked it to inform if it was willing to share any documents Senior counsel Rafiq Dada appearing for the state government told the HCs bench on Tuesday that he had a meeting with senior government officials We will be able to reconcile the matter We will put an end to this hopefully Dada said He told the court that a meeting would be held with Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh who appears for the CBI The bench then posted the matter for further hearing on August 26 The CBI in its application filed last month said it had written a letter to the State Intelligence Department seeking details of a communication sent by senior IPS officer Rashmi Shukla on the issue of corruption in police transfers and postings but the SID refused to provide them claiming they were part of an ongoing investigation On July 22 the high court held that the CBI can inquire the allegations of corruption in transfers and postings of police personnel limited to its nexus with Deshmukh and had dismissed a petition filed by the Maharashtra government seeking that some parts of the central agencys FIR against the NCP leader be quashed The CBI had on April 21 this year lodged an FIR against Deshmukh on charges of corruption and misuse of official position The FIR was registered after the agency conducted a preliminary enquiry against Deshmukh following an order from the HC on April 5 Deshmukh who resigned from his post in April following the allegations has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing PTI SP GK GK