Special Court Denies Bail to Maharashtra Ex-Home Minister Anil Deshmukh in Corruption Case
New Delhi: A special court in Mumbai on Friday, October 21 rejected the bail application filed by former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh in an alleged corruption and misuse of official position case being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Deshmukh, 71, was arrested on November 2, 2021 and has been lodged at the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai.
Special CBI court judge S.H. Gwalani rejected his plea after hearing arguments from both sides. The court's detailed order is not available yet.
According to the Hindu, his bail application said, “He is a septuagenarian suffering from several serious ailments which have virtually incapacitated him to undertake ordinary pursuits of life without adequate medical treatment, is beseeching for a benevolent indulgence of court to admit him to regular bail in peculiar facts and circumstances which give rise to a reasonable inference that the entire proceedings are not only actuated with malice but also bereft of any legal sanctity.”
He was admitted to a private hospital last week for coronary angiography.
On October 4, the Bombay high court had granted him bail in a money laundering case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), following which he had approached the special CBI court for bail in the corruption case.
The ED began its probe against Deshmukh after the CBI registered a case against him over allegations of extortion made by former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh.
There are two CBI cases against him.
According to an Indian Express explainer, the first case pertains to the allegations levelled by Singh against the Nationalist Congress Party leader.
In March 2021, the senior IPS officer had alleged that Deshmukh, the then state home minister in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, had given a target to police officers to collect Rs 100 crore per month from restaurants and bars in Mumbai.
Former assistant police inspector Sachin Waze, arrested in the 'Antilia' bomb scare case in March 2021, had levelled similar allegations against him.
The high court had in April 2021 directed the CBI to carry out a preliminary inquiry.
The CBI, based on this inquiry, had registered a first information report against Deshmukh and his associates under Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and section 7 (public servant taking gratification other than legal remuneration in respect of an official act) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, the newspaper reported.
Deshmukh had resigned as the home minister in April 2021.
In the second CBI case, the probe agency had in September 2021 arrested Deshmukh’s lawyer Anand Daga and its own sub-inspector Abhishek Tiwari for allegedly leaking the confidential preliminary enquiry report against Deshmukh.
However, in this case, no cognisable offence was made out against Deshmukh.
According to news agency ANI, the Delhi court had in January granted them bail in the case.
(With inputs from PTI)
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