A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on October 21, 2022 refused to grant bail to former Maharashtra Home Minister, Anil Deshmukh in a corruption case of ₹100 crore in the year 2021.
Mr Deshmukh was arrested on November 2, 2021 and has been lodged at Arthur Road jail since then. In July 2022, the special CBI court had also rejected the Nationalist Congress Party leader’s default bail in the case.
His bail application stated, “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.”
On October 4, a single bench of justice NJ Jamadar had granted bail to the 73-year-old and said, “the amounts received by the Deshmukh‘s family run Trust Sai Seva Sanstha cannot be treated as proceeds of crime.”
The case dates to March 20, 2021, when former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh wrote a letter to the then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray alleging Mr Deshmukh of abusing his position and powers to seek illegal monetary benefits. The letter alleged instances of Mr Deshmukh directing Mr Vaze and others to collect Rs 100 crores from bars and restaurants over a month.
The High Court on April 5, 2021 had directed a preliminary inquiry against Mr Deshmukh by CBI. Soon thereafter, a First Information Report was registered against Mr Deshmukh under section 120 B (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.
