Bombay HC refuses to extend stay on former Maha minister Anil Deshmukh's bail

Former Maharashtra minister Anil Deshmukh is likely to walk out of jail on Wednesday as the Bombay High Court on Tuesday refused to extend its stay on an order granting him bail in a corruption case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Justice M S Karnik had granted bail to the 73-year-old Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader on December 12, but stayed the order for 10 days as the CBI sought time to challenge it in the Supreme Court.

The probe agency moved the apex court but the appeal would be heard only in January 2023 as the court is closed for vacation.

Last week, the high court had extended the stay till December 27 on the CBI’s request. On Tuesday, the central agency sought another extension. Deshmukh’s lawyers Aniket Nikam and Inderpal Singh claimed that the CBI was trying to overreach the earlier order of the HC which had stated that under no circumstances another extension will be granted.

They are failing to make out any urgency in the Supreme Court, and coming here seeking stay. This cannot be permitted, Nikam argued.

The high court, while granting bail to Deshmukh, had noted that except for dismissed police officer Sachin Waze’s statement, no testimony recorded by the CBI indicated that money was being extorted from bar owners in Mumbai at the behest of the NCP leader.

Deshmukh approached the high court after a special CBI court rejected his bail plea last month. He sought bail both on medical grounds and merits of the case. He has been in jail since November 2021 after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested him in an alleged money laundering case.