The Bombay High Court on Monday granted bail to former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh in a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act regarding illegal gratification from bar owners and corruption in police transfers and posting in Maharashtra. Deshmukh was arrested on November 2, 2021 by the ED following over 12 hours of interrogation and subsequently arrested in...
The Bombay High Court on Monday granted bail to former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh in a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act regarding illegal gratification from bar owners and corruption in police transfers and posting in Maharashtra.
Deshmukh was arrested on November 2, 2021 by the ED following over 12 hours of interrogation and subsequently arrested in the present case by the CBI.
Justice MS Karnik pronounced the order today after hearing marathon arguments last week.
Earlier, the Bombay High Court has already granted bail to Deshmukh in a money laundering case being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate, the NCP leader remained incarcerated only in the CBI case against him.
Deshmukh cited the Bombay HC order to say that CBI's star witness, dismissed Mumbai cop Sachin Waze (an approver), was unreliable. He cited Waze's changing statements before Justice K U Chandiwal's Commission, appointed by the state government in the issue.
However, the CBI led by ASG Anil Singh called Deshmukh a flight risk and attempted to distinguish the ED case from the CBI case. He said that Waze was declared as an approver in the case and there was enough evidence against Deshmukh.
Deshmukh approached the HC after the special CBI court refused to grant him relief, the court observed that approver Sachin Waze's statement played a very important role. Moreover, admissibility would be a matter of trial, the Court said.
Facts
On April 5, 2021 the Bombay High Court directed CBI to conducted a preliminary enquiry into a letter wherein Ex-Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh alleged that Deshmukh had asked dismissed cop Sachin Waze and two other officers to illegally collect Rs 100 crore from bar owners every month for him. The order was passed on a batch of petitions.
Subsequently, CBI registered an FIR under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The ED's case was based on the CBI's corruption FIR against Deshmukh.
According to the ED probe, as Maharashtra's home minister, Deshmukh had received atleast Rs 4.7 crore in illegal gratification in cash from various orchestra bar owners between December 2020 and February 2021 through dismissed cop Sachin Waze.