Mumbai: Maharashtra Police will take no action against former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh, the Supreme Court ordered today as it termed the corruption row involving the senior police officer and former state minister Anil Deshmukh a "messy state of affairs" and a "most unfortunate system".
The Supreme Court said it will soon decide whether the probe into all cases against Mr Singh should be transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The Maharashtra government has said all the cases cannot be transferred to the central agency.
Mr Singh was replaced as Mumbai Police Commissioner following the bomb scare outside industrialist Mukesh Ambani's residence. He was subsequently suspended amid allegations of corruption.
Following the actions against him, the senior police officer hit back with serious allegations against former Maharashtra home minister and NCP leader Anil Deshmukh, accusing him of corruption and interfering with police work.
The senior police officer alleged that Mr Deshmukh had asked several of his officers to collect money from restaurants, pubs, bars, and hookah parlours, setting them a target of Rs 100 crore every month.
Mr Deshmukh denied the allegations but resigned as state home minister amid the row.
Hearing the matter, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said, "We wish to say again. It's a messy state of affairs. Nobody comes out washed with milk in this. It has the propensity to shake the confidence of the people in the state administration and police system, most unfortunate system. But process of law must go on."
The CBI, represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, submitted that the central agency must probe all the cases involving Mr Singh.
The court had earlier allowed Mumbai Police to carry on the investigation against Mr Singh but restrained it from filing charge sheets on the FIRs against him over the allegations of misconduct and corruption.
The state police had earlier told the court that Singh cannot be considered a "whistleblower" under the law as he chose to speak out against alleged corruption involving former home minister Anil Deshmukh only after his transfer.
The top court had granted a major relief to Mr Singh on November 22 by directing the Maharashtra Police not to arrest him in criminal cases lodged against him and had wondered if he was being hounded for filing cases against police officers and extortionists, "what could happen to a common man".
Seeking dismissal of Mr Singh's plea for a CBI probe into the entire matter and against any coercive action by the state, the Maharashtra government has filed an affidavit and said that the ongoing probe in criminal cases against the former top cop should not be interfered with.