NCP Leader Hasan Mushrif Gets 2 Weeks Protection From Bombay High Court To Seek Anticipatory Bail In ED's Money Laundering Case

A division bench of Justice Revati Mohite-Dere and Justice Sharmila Deshmukh kept all contentions on merits open and posted Mushrif’s plea seeking quashing of the case after four weeks.

“Petition is filed. No coercive action is sought...The petitioner to approach the trial court. We protect him for two weeks...We have not gone into the merits of the petition and all contentions are kept open”, the court stated.

Earlier the court had granted relief to Mushrif in another FIR against him and directed no-coercive action.

Senior Advocate Abad Ponda for Mushrif submitted that High Court had stayed proceedings in the predicate offence but Mushrif's premises were searched a day after the High Court order.

When asked by Court whether ED intends to arrest Mushrif, Additional Solicitor General submitted that if Mushrif wants protection he can file for anticipatory bail. He cannot seek protection from arrest under the guise of quashing proceedings, he said.

Ponda contended that ED’s investigation is not independent. It is dependent on the scheduled offence. ED’s malafides is already under judicial scrutiny of the High Court and the same FIR is being investigated, it is only fair that he is granted relief, Ponda said.

Advocate Nilesh Ojha tried to intervene and object to Justice Dere hearing the case without filing an application on record. However, the court refused to entertain him. “We will not allow you, and we will not allow ourselves to be intimidated by anybody”, the bench said.

The case

According to the petition, ED was investigating a private complaint under section 447 (fraud) of The Companies Act, 2013 filed by the Registrar of Companies, Pune before a special court against Sar Senapati Santaji Ghorpade Sugar Factory Limited. On May 2, 2022, the court stayed the order initiating criminal proceedings in the case against his three sons.

The petition states that the ED has raided Mushrif’s premises on three separate occasions.

On March 10, High Court passed an order protecting Mushrif from coercive action in an FIR filed under section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code by Murgud police station in Kolhapur.

The petition alleged that there has been a deliberate attempt to get Mushrif involved in Enforcement Directorate cases for the political agenda of BJP leader Kirit Somaiya. Further, ED has not found anything incriminating against him despite separate raids conducted in a span of a couple of months, it added.

According to the petition, Mushrif has not held any position in the company since its inception. “the proceedings were maliciously instituted with an ulterior and mala fide motive for wreaking vengeance on the petitioner and with a view to create “scheduled offence” so as to entangle the petitioner in the investigation conducted by the Enforcement Directorate”, the petition alleged.

Mushrif prayed for quashing the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) and the March 11 summons issued against him in connection with the ECIR.

(Compiled by Amisha Srivastava)