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Bombay HC has granted bail to Maharashtra former home minister Anil Deshmukh in a corruption case investigated by the CBI.
A single bench of Justice M S Karnik had reserved the order on the plea last week after both sides completed their arguments.
Deshmukh, 74, approached the HC after a special CBI court rejected his bail plea last month. He sought bail on medical grounds as well as on merits. The Nationalist Congress Party leader has been in jail since November last year after he was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case.
Deshmukh, who was a minister in the previous coalition government of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress, was lodged in Arthur Road jail in Mumbai.
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.
The ED claimed that Deshmukh misused his official position and collected Rs 4.70 crore from various bars and restaurants in Mumbai.
The money was channelled to Nagpur-based Shri Sai Shikshan Sansthan, an educational trust controlled by the Deshmukh family, it alleged.
We argued on health grounds. His health was deteriorating and we produced his health records before the court… CBI said they will go to higher court against this order, court allowed them and in that context, stayed the order for 10 days, Adv Aniket Nikam, Anil Deshmukh’s lawyer told ANI
