New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate moved the Supreme Court challenging the Bombay High Court order granting bail to former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, who was arrested in connection with a money laundering case. The Bombay High Court on October 4 granted bail to Anil Deshmukh in a money laundering case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The court, however, stayed the order till October 13 to enable the ED to file an appeal against bail.
Two components of credits in the account of a trust controlled by the Deshmukh family, flagged by the ED, were not "proceeds of crime," the court noted in the order. The Nationalist Congress Party leader, who was arrested on November 2, 2021, is also facing a corruption case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
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Justice NJ Jamadar in his order said the bail plea had been allowed and Deshmukh shall be released on a bond of Rs 1 lakh. But the court stayed the order till October 13 as Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh said the ED would approach the Supreme Court to challenge the bail order. Deshmukh, who was a minister in the previous coalition government of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress, was lodged in the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai. The ED began its probe against Deshmukh after the CBI registered a case against him over allegations of extortion levelled 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. But the High Court noted in the order on Tuesday that two components of credits in the trust's account were not "proceeds of crime".
