CBI director Subodh Jaiswal himself should be considered a "potential accused" in the central agency's probe against former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh, the state government told the Bombay High Court.

Senior counsel Darius Khambata, who appeared for the Maharashtra government, told a bench of Justices Nitin Jamdar and SV Kotwal that from 2019 to 2020, when Jaiswal was the state Director General of Police (DGP), he was also part of the Police Establishment Board. The senior IPS officer was thus involved in decisions on transfers and postings of police officers which the CBI is now probing, the lawyer said.