Girish Chaudhari, the son-in-law of senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) politician Eknath Khadse, was released from prison after receiving Supreme Court bail in a money laundering case related to a 2016 land deal in Pune, more than two years after his detention.
Chaudhari was released from Arthur Road Jail in central Mumbai after completion of formalities, including furnishing of a cash bail of Rs 1 lakh, his lawyer Mohan Tekavde said. The Supreme Court granted him bail on July 21. However, his bail formalities efore the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Mumbai, presiding over the case, were completed only on Tuesday, felicitating his release.
As per directions of the SC, the special PMLA court judge laid down certain conditions for Chaudhari's release, which included surrender of his passport to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the agency probing the money laundering case. As part of bail terms, he has been asked to attend ED's office on the first Friday of every month and not to leave the jurisdiction of the special court (Mumbai) without its permission.
Chaudhari was arrested by the ED on July 7, 2021, under the provisions of the PMLA. Earlier, he had been denied bail by both the special court and the HC. ED case stems from an FIR filed by the Pune police's Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) against Khadse, a former state minister who is currently an MLC, his wife Mandakini and Chaudhari in April 2017.