On Tuesday, October 4, the Bombay High Court granted bail to former Maharashtra Home Minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Anil Deshmukh in the money laundering case being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Anil Deshmukh will however continue to be in the Arthur Road jail as he is being probed in a corruption case as well by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
According to the reports, Justice NJ Jamadar pronounced the bail order which will be effective from October 13, allowing the ED time to file an appeal with the Supreme Court. “We have held that the first two components of credit in the Trust do not form proceeds of crime. The third component depends on the statement of (dismissed Mumbai cop) Sachin Waze which in the discussion falls in favor of the applicant (Deshmukh). Apart from this, the applicant is also given the benefit under the proviso under Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA)”, the judge was quoted. The bail has been granted on a surety amount of Rs 1 lakh.
Former Maharashtra minister Anil Deshmukh has been granted bail in the case registered against him by ED. Even after bail in the ED case, he will remain behind the bars in the CBI case registered against him.
— ANI (@ANI) October 4, 2022
Anil Deshmukh and his colleagues are being probed for possible corruption between 2019 and 2021. The CBI arrested Deshmukh and others based on the findings of a preliminary inquiry into a complaint filed by counsel Dr. Jaishri Patil. The probe was initiated following a directive given by the Bombay High Court on April 5, 2021, in response to a plea submitted by Param Bir Singh, former Commissioner of Mumbai Police.
Based on the CBI’s FIR, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a case against Anil Deshmukh under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and detained him in November 2021. He was remanded to ED detention, which the High Court extended until November 15. He was then sent to judicial detention, where he remains to this day.
The CBI later nabbed Deshmukh in the first week of April of this year. The CBI held him till April 16 before remanding him to judicial custody. Deshmukh applied for ordinary bail in March 2022, after a special PMLA Court denied his release application. In April 2022, the ED filed its response, stating that Anil Deshmukh had failed to explain the source of huge wealth and proceeds of crime.
During the former minister’s 8-month detention, Justices Revati Mohite Dere, PD Naik, Bharati Dangre, and Prithviraj K Chavan of the Bombay High Court recused themselves from reviewing his bail plea. On September 27, the High Court started hearing the bail petition, a day after the Supreme Court urged the High Court to take up the issue this week and dispose of it swiftly. On September 28, after hearing both sides extensively, the Court had reserved the plea for orders.
