SC asks Bombay HC to consider speedy hearing of Anil Deshmukh’s bail plea – Hindustan Times

Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Bombay high court to consider hearing former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh’s bail petition in a money laundering case expeditiously. 

The senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader, currently in judicial custody, told the apex court his bail plea had not been taken up in the high court since March 25. The Supreme Court asked the former minister to file an application in high court for an early hearing of his pending plea.

Last week, Deshmukh was admitted to the ICU of the civic-run KEM Hospital after he complained of high blood pressure and chest pain.

Deshmukh’s counsel, advocate Aniket Nikam, said the top court had considered the jailed NCP leader’s age and sickness while passing the order. “Anil Deshmukh is sick and at an advanced age. Considering this, the Supreme Court has granted liberty to Deshmukh to move an application before the Bombay high court seeking early listing of his bail application.”

The 72-year-old former minister was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with an alleged ₹100-crore extortion and money laundering case in November 2021. The ED had registered the case against Deshmukh and others based on a corruption case filed against him by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Deshmukh had filed a bail application in the high court on March 22 after a special court of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) rejected his petition on March 14 in the case. 

Though the first hearing of the bail application in the HC was held on March 25, four subsequent hearings (on April 8, 22, 25, and 26) had been adjourned when they came up for hearing before the bench of justice Anuja Prabhudessai, prompting the ex-minister to approach the Supreme Court.

The application in HC said that Deshmukh had never shied away from interrogation and had voluntarily attended the office of the investigating agency as and when he was summoned. It said allegations against him had not been corroborated by the agency even after the passage of substantial time since he was detained and hence, he should be granted bail.

“There is ample material on record to demonstrate that there a tug of war relating to the investigations into the accusations that form a part of the present case and other alike cases as to whether the state police machinery or the CBI will investigate,” the application said.

The NCP leader had stepped down as home minister after former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh accused him of corruption. Days later, he was booked by the CBI in a case. 

Last month, the Justice KU Chandiwal Commission appointed to probe Singh’s allegations against Deshmukh gave him a clean chit and called the Indian Police Services (IPS) officer’s claims false in a 201-page report submitted to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.