Corruption allegations levelled by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh against Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh pertain to a period when the latter was hospitalised and hence the question of his resignation does not arise, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said on Monday.

“We got information that Deshmukh was hospitalised at that time in Nagpur. The allegation (of Singh) pertains to exactly the same period when he was in the hospital. There is a hospital certificate," Pawar told reporters in Delhi.

In his eight-page letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Singh on Saturday claimed Deshmukh wanted police officers to collect Rs 100 crore monthly from bars and hotels.

Singh had also alleged in the letter that Deshmukh had called Mumbai police API Sachin Waze around mid-February at the minister's official residence and told him to collect Rs 100 crore a month.

Deshmukh had rubbished the charges the same day.

Deshmukh was admitted to a Nagpur hospital between February 5 and February 15 after testing positive for COVID-19 and was being analysed from February 15 to February 27, Pawar said during the media briefing.

The NCP chief also read out a certificate from the hospital in this regard.

"All (state) government records also say that for the entire three weeks, he (Deshmukh) was not in Bombay (Mumbai).

He was in Nagpur, which is his home town. That's why in such a situation, the question (of seeking resignation) does not arise," Pawar said.

The former Union minister also said that there is no substance in the BJP's demand that Deshmukh should step down till the time allegations against him are probed.

Referring to Singh's letter, Pawar also wondered why the IPS officer took a month to level the allegation if he had the information that Deshmukh had called Waze around mid- February and asked him to collect funds.

The NCP president said the main case pertains to an explosives-laden vehicle being taken near industrialist Mukesh Ambanis residence.

Pawar said the ATS has arrested two persons in connection with the death of businessmen Mansukh Hiran, whose vehicle was used to carry the explosives.

"The main case was that and I think the Bombay ATS is going in the right direction," he said.

Earlier in the day, former Mumbai Commissioner of Police Param Bir Singh moved to the Supreme Court seeking direction for immediate "unbiased, uninfluenced, impartial and fair" CBI probe into alleged corrupt malpractices of Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.

Singh, a 1988 batch IPS officer also sought quashing of the order transferring him from the post of Mumbai CP alleging it to be arbitrary and illegal.

As an interim relief, Singh sought stay of the operation of his transfer order and direction to the state government, the Centre and the CBI to immediately take in its custody the CCTV footage from the residence of Deshmukh.

"The Petitioner has invoked writ jurisdiction of this Court to seek unbiased, uninfluenced, impartial and fair investigation in the corrupt malpractices of Anil Deshmukh, the Home Minister of Government of Maharashtra, before the evidences are destroyed," he said in his plea.

Deshmukh had been holding meetings in February 2021 at his residence with police officers including Sachin Vaze of Crime Intelligence Unit, Mumbai and Sanjay Patil, ACP Social Service Branch, Mumbai, bypassing their seniors and had instructed them that he had a target to accumulate Rs 100 crore every month and had directed to collect money from various establishments and other sources, Singh alleged.