Former Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Anil Deshmukh was granted bail by the Bombay High Court on Monday in a corruption case filed by the CBI. However, Deshmukh is unlikely to leave jail as the central probe agency sought time to challenge the decision in the Supreme Court in the coming days. The 74-year-old leader is lodged in Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail.
He was jailed last year on allegations made by former Mumbai top cop Parambir Singh. It was one of the biggest political controversies during the tenure of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. The Enforcement Directorate and the CBI filed separate cases against Deshmukh. Last month, the CBI had told the high court that the bail granted to Deshmukh in the money laundering case would not make him eligible for bail in the corruption case. In its affidavit, the CBI further said that the charges – against the former minister – under the Prevention of Corruption Act are different from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) case registered under the PMLA.
“The PMLA case has no bearing on the CBI case. “That the charges leveled against the present applicant are of criminal conspiracy to commit an offense punishable under Section 7 of the IPC,” the affidavit reads. In October, the Supreme Court rejected the ED’s bail plea. posted bail in money laundering case. Param Bir Singh accused Deshmukh of trying to extort money from Mumbai bar owners through some police officials, including sacked Assistant Inspector Sachin Waze. Waze was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) as the prime accused in the Antilia bomb scare and was also linked to the murder of Thane auto accessories shop owner Mansukh Hiran.
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