Anil Deshmukh, the former Home Minister of Maharashtra, faced the CBI raids in two of his houses on Monday following a leaked report of confidential documents related to corruption allegations against him, according to officials.
The searches were conducted as a result of the embarrassment faced by the CBI after the preliminary enquiry giving a clean chit to the former minister got leaked to the media. According to the agency, the documents were leaked by a police sub-inspector and Mr Deshmukh’s lawyer- both of whom were arrested for the crime on September 2nd.
The CBI came knocking on the Nagpur and Mumbai homes of the ex-minister with the concerned warrants on Monday morning.
The Bombay High Court had received a PIL with corruption charges on Mr Deshmukh, following which it ordered the CBI to launch a preliminary enquiry. The public interest litigation contained allegations on him, concerned with corruption moves made during his term as the home minister of state.
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It was found that the Deputy SP investigating the case had allegedly said that there was no cognizable offence made against him. However, the PE was changed into an FIR later as a different opinion of the Deputy SP was reported.
The initial reports showing no evidence against Mr Deshmukh leaked soon- which the agency blamed on the accused’s advocate Anand Daga and sub-inspector Abhishek Tiwari- leading to a flurry of embarrassment for the CBI. The opposition parties accused it of planning the probe purposely against the ex-minister with no solid evidence.
Soon, Daga and Tiwari were arrested as they learnt that the two were constantly in touch with each other. Daga had even given Tiwari an iPhone 12 pro as a token of gratitude for helping him and his client by passing the PE’s documents. The Central Bureau of Investigation further claimed that the sub-inspector was receiving such illegal tokens often from Daga.
Results of the raid conducted this morning at Mr Deshmukh’s house are yet to be revealed. This is the first time the CBI reached the former minister’s houses post the event of early September when the arrests were made.
