CBI moves Bombay HC, seeks extension of stay on order granting bail to Anil Deshmukh

Anil Deshmukh. File Pic

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) approached the Bombay High Court on Tuesday seeking extension till January 3 on the stay on an order granting bail to former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh in a corruption case.

The high court said it will hear the CBI's application on Wednesday.

A single bench of Justice M S Karnik on December 12 granted bail to the 73-year-old Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader in the case, but said the order will be effective after 10 days, as the CBI had sought time to challenge it in the apex court.

The probe agency on Friday filed its appeal in the Supreme Court, but the plea would be heard only in January 2023 since the court has closed for vacation.

Appearing for the CBI on Tuesday, Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh sought Justice Karnik to extend the earlier stay till January 3.

"This court had granted bail, but it was not to be effected. The Supreme Court doesn't have vacation bench unfortunately. So the order may be extended till January 3," Singh said.

Deshmukh's lawyer Aniket Nikam opposed the same and said there was a vacation registrar available in the apex court.

Justice Karnik then said the court would hear the CBI's application (seeking extension of the stay) on Wednesday.

The high court while granting bail to Deshmukh had noted that except for dismissed police officer Sachin Waze's statement, none recorded by the CBI indicated money was extorted from bar owners in Mumbai at the behest of the politician.

In its plea filed in the top court, the probe agency has claimed the HC "committed grave error" while granting bail to Deshmukh irrespective of the serious objections raised by the CBI, both on the merits of the case as well as the effect his bail will have on the continuing investigation.

Deshmukh had approached the high court after a special CBI court rejected his bail plea last month. He had sought bail both on medical grounds and merits.

The NCP leader has been in jail since November last year after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested him in a money laundering case. In April this year, the CBI arrested him in the corruption case.

Deshmukh, who has denied the allegations levelled against him, is in judicial custody at the Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai.

Also Read: CBI moves SC challenging Bombay HC order granting bail to Anil Deshmukh

In October, the high court granted him bail in the ED case related to alleged money laundering.

Former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh in March 2021 alleged that Deshmukh, the then home minister, had given a target to police officers to collect Rs 100 crore per month from restaurants and bars.

Former assistant police inspector Waze, arrested in the case of an explosives-laden vehicle found near industrialist Mukesh Ambani's house in Mumbai last year, had also levelled similar allegations.

The high court in April 2021 directed the CBI to carry out a preliminary inquiry.

The CBI, based on this inquiry, registered an FIR against Deshmukh and others for alleged corruption and misuse of official power.

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