Lagatar24 Desk
Mumbai, Oct 26: Anil Deshmukh, the leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and former home minister of Maharashtra, has applied for bail in the corruption case against him that the CBI is looking into before the Bombay High Court.
The vacation judge Justice MS Karnik was approached by Deshmukh’s attorneys Advocates Aniket Nikam and Inderpal Singh on Tuesday, and he gave them permission to file a bail petition with the registry.
Following the filing process, the attorney brought up the subject once more for an urgent hearing before Justice Sharmila Deshmukh, the vacation judge. The Court set the CBI’s response deadline on November 9 and scheduled the plea hearing for November 11.
Deshmukh’s High Court petition was submitted less than a week after his normal bail application was denied by the Special CBI Court in Mumbai.
He emphasised that the CBI Court’s decision to give bail to Deshmukh in the related money laundering case did not take into account the High Court’s findings, which indicated that Deshmukh might not ultimately be found guilty.
Deshmukh argued that the trial court’s actions went above the guidelines established by the High Court and Supreme Court when granting bail to Deshmukh in the money laundering case.
“While it may not be contended that the order granting bail in PMLA case would ipso facto bind the trial court to grant bail in the scheduled or predicate offence, the findings recorded in the order passed by the High Court could not have been brushed aside lightly”, the plea emphasized.
Deshmukh is facing two distinct legal actions stemming from the same allegations: one by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for violations of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act and money laundering, respectively.
After the Bombay High Court directed an investigation to be conducted on April 5, 2021 in response to a plea submitted by Param Bir Singh, a retired commissioner of the Mumbai Police, the investigation was started.
