Mumbai | The Bombay High Court on Monday granted conditional bail to former Maharashtra minister Anil Deshmukh after nearly 13 months in prison custody in an alleged corruption case registered by the CBI. However, Additional Solicitor-General Anil Singh, appearing for the CBI, sought a stay on the order, saying he was planning to approach the Supreme Court, following which the High Court said the bail order would be effective after 10 days. Will happen.
Deshmukh, 74, a senior leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), was arrested on November 2, 2021, initially by the Central Bureau of Investigation and later by the Enforcement Directorate in alleged corruption and money-laundering cases. Justice M.S. Karnik, who had reserved his order on December 8, while pronouncing the verdict, granted bail to Deshmukh on a surety of Rs 100,000.
Last month, the High Court granted him bail in the ED money-laundering case, but the special CBI court rejected his bail plea, which Deshmukh challenged in the High Court. Arguing vehemently against bail, Singh argued that just because Deshmukh secured bail in the money-laundering offence, he is not automatically entitled to bail in the CBI corruption case, as the corruption happened at the highest level in the government. and pointed out that the Supreme Court has held that money-laundering is a single offense which has to be decided on its own merits.
Deshmukh’s lawyers Vikram Choudhary and Aniket Nikam argued that after considering all the material on record, the high court had granted bail in the PMLA case and the apex court should not set aside that order. Chowdhary further said that the CBI and ED cases are interlinked and since Deshmukh was granted bail in the ED case, he should be granted bail in the CBI case as well.
He argued that Deshmukh’s arrest was unwarranted and in violation of Supreme Court guidelines and since he is 70 years old and has been in jail for over a year, he should be granted bail on merits. Arguing further, Chowdhary said that Sachin Waje, the dismissed constable of Mumbai Police, had given contradictory statements which cannot be the basis for denying bail to Deshmukh in the CBI case.
