The Bombay High Court on Monday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to carry out ‘preliminary inquiry’ into corruption allegations of former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh against Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.

The court noted that directions are required to order an unbiased probe to unearth the truth.

“There can be no independent probe if it is given to the police where Deshmukh is the home minister. The interest of justice will be done if the director of CBI is allowed to conduct a preliminary inquiry. Such an inquiry be conducted in accordance with law and be concluded within 15 days. Once the preliminary inquiry is complete, it will be at the discretion of director CBI to decide on the further course of action,” it said.

The court on 31 March had heard three other petitions other than Singh’s regarding the matter – a writ petition by Advocate Jaishri Patil and criminal PILs by advocate Ghanshyam Upadhyay and Chartered Accountant Mohan Bhide.

Terming the case as ‘extraordinary and unprecedented’, the court asked the CBI to complete the probe within 15 days, after which the CBI director is at liberty to take further course of action.

Three days after he was removed as Mumbai Police Commissioner and posted to the Home Guards, Singh wrote an eight-page letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, alleging that Deshmukh asked how suspended and arrested assistant police inspector Sachin Waze to collect Rs 100 crore every month, including Rs 40-50 crore from 1,750 bars and restaurants in Mumbai.

The court also passed the order on criminal writ plea by city-based lawyer Jaishri Patil, who, along with an independent probe into allegations, had sought directions to Police to take cognizance of complaint filed by her at Malabar Hill Police station, complaining of corruption by Deshmukh, Singh, and others.