Maharashtra withdrew CBI consent to stop political misuse: Anil Deshmukh

Mumbai: Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh on Thursday said that 31-year-old ‘general consent’ given by the state to the CBI has been withdrawn so that the central agency cannot be misused for political purposes. On Wednesday late night, his department issued a notification stating the general consent withdrew to the CBI.

Maharashtra is the fourth state in the country to withdraw the general consent to the apex agency. Meanwhile, the BJP slammed chief minister Uddhav Thackeray led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government for this move.

Deshmukh said that CBI should not be used to settle the political scores. "Therefore, we have come out with the order yesterday (Wednesday) for the CBI in Maharashtra. If the CBI wants to take over any case, it needs to get the prior consent from the Maharashtra government," the home minister said.    

The Maharashtra Government's move came close on the heels of the central agency taking over a case registered by the UP Police against "unknown" channels and persons over alleged fudging of TRPs in Lucknow. The development created apprehensions in the Maharashtra government that the CBI would take over a similar case on alleged fudging of TRPs registered in Maharashtra in a bid to move it away from the jurisdiction of Mumbai police.

Referring to the apprehension, Deshmukh said that the government wanted to avoid such a thing happening.

The Home Department's order said, "In exercise of the powers conferred by section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946, the government of Maharashtra hereby withdraws the consent accorded to the Members of the Delhi Special Police Establishment vide Government Order dated 22nd February 1989."

A senior home department official said that the order does not have any impact on the previous cases. However, the CBI now needs to take a case to case basis consent from the Maharashtra government for all cases in future.

Meanwhile, the BJP leader Kirit Somaiya said that the Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena are scared of the CBI because their scams could be exposed.

Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut said that the CBI has a right to probe all cases of national importance. But the cases which are being probed by Mumbai police are being simultaneously transferred to the central probe agency by filing fresh FIR in a different state, which recommends CBI probe, resulting in landing of CBI in Maharashtra. “Now, we decided to not allow such things. The Mumbai police has its own rights, which are provided by the constitution of India. It should not be violated by anyone,” Raut said.

Earlier, investigation into actor Sushant Singh Rajput's alleged suicide case filed by Mumbai police was transferred to the CBI after the actor's family filed abatement to suicide case in Bihar.