Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh on Thursday welcomed a plea by retired police officers to the Bombay High Court seeking a restraint on the “media trial” in Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death case.

Deshmukh compared the Mumbai police to Scotland Yard Police, which is considered to be one of the best forces in the world, and condemned how they were “targeted” in Rajput’s case.

“Maharashtra Police & Mumbai Police have a reputation. Maharashtra Police is compared to Scotland Yard Police. The manner in which Mumbai Police was targeted in Sushant Singh Rajput case, I welcome the PIL filed by retired IPS officers,” the state home minister was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Five former director generals of police (DGP) of Maharashtra, two former commissioners of Mumbai police and a former anti-terrorism squad (ATS) chief have moved a public interest litigation (PIL) in the high court against the “media trial” in Rajput’s death investigation.

Former DGPs PS Pasricha, K Subramaniam, D Shivanandan, Sanjeev Dayal, Satish Chandra Mathur; former commissioners of Mumbai police Mahesh N Singh, Dhananjay N Jadhav, and former ATS chief KP Raghuvanshi filed the PIL on Monday.

Their plea accuses the media of indulging in biased coverage of the incident and trying to influence the probe by creating false propaganda.

“This has created an air of suspicion in the minds of general public as to the facts of the case under investigation and also about the Mumbai Police, health services and other support services of the state,” the PIL states.

The retired police officers have said that the “irresponsible media coverage” has led to damage to Mumbai police’s image.

The plea also states that the “media trial” has resulted into a parallel investigation being carried out by private individuals, rendering opinions, exposing material witnesses and divulging crucial pieces of evidence which, in turn, hampers the work of investigating agencies.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is currently probing the death of Rajput who was found dead at his Bandra apartment on June 14. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) are also investigating the money laundering and drug-related angle alongside.