The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has urged the Bombay high court to dismiss a plea filed by former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh seeking that an FIR registered against him by the central agency on charges of corruption be quashed.

In an affidavit filed in the HC last week, the CBI said the FIR against Deshmukh had been registered in April this year on the basis of a preliminary inquiry which the High Court had allowed following a batch of petitions seeking a probe into corruption allegations against the NCP leader.