Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar told the Bombay High Court here on Wednesday that courts can not order registration of a case against a particular person. The NCP leader had faced allegations of corruption in an alleged scam related to irrigation projects in Vidarbha. The Anti-Corruption Bureau of state police told the Nagpur bench of the HC last year that there was no evidence against Pawar. He filed the latest affidavit in response to an application by Atul Jagtap seeking that the court monitors the probe of the multi-crore scam.

The application also demanded transfer of the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Pawar, during the Congress-NCP government in the state prior to 2014, was the head of the Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation in his capacity as an irrigation minister. His affidavit said the state had already set the criminal law in motion, and the courts cannot look into or supervise the investigation in such a case.