The Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted bail to the controversial Mumbai police officer Sachin Waze in connection with a corruption case involving former Maharashtra home minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Anil Deshmukh.
A bench of Justice MS Sonak and Justice Jitendra Jain allowed Waze's bail plea after Additional Solicitor General Raja Thackeray made a statement consenting to the grant of bail.
The Court further instructed the trial court judge to set conditions necessary for Waze’s release on bail.
“We direct the petitioner's release on bail subject to such terms and conditions as shall be imposed by the special judge in criminal case 568/2022," the High Court said.
Waze, Deshmukh, and two others were arrested in April 2022 in the corruption case probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Waze applied for a pardon under Section 306 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) in June 2022 through his lawyer Rounak Naik, alleging that he collected bribes from restaurant and bar owners on Deshmukh’s instructions between December 2020 and March 2021.
Waze faces charges in cases brought by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) as well, which allege that he planted explosives in a vehicle near businessman Mukesh Ambani's residence and conspired to kill someone associated with that vehicle.
While granting bail in the CBI case today, the High Court also allowed Waze to withdraw his plea challenging the constitutionality of Section 306(4)(b) of the CrPC, which prevents approvers already in custody from obtaining bail.
Earlier, a Bench of Justices Bharati Dangre and Justice Manjusha Deshpande had recused from hearing the matter after it was closed for orders.
Waze had argued that he deserved default bail since his co-accused, including Deshmukh, had been granted bail while he, despite being an approver, remained incarcerated. He pointed out that he had been in jail for two years without a chargesheet filed against him and therefore qualified for default bail.
Waze had added that although he had received a pardon, he was still unduly detained as an accused, even though he was technically a prosecution witness. He highlighted the illogical nature of his detention, adding that it undermined the very purpose of the pardon.
He also referred to several Supreme Court precedents to assert that “the end of law is not to abolish or restrain but preserve and enlarge freedom.”
Senior Advocate Aabad Ponda along with Advocates Sajal Yadav, Raunak Naik, Aayushya Geruja, Harsh Ghangurde, Raj Raut and MH Lohar appeared for Waze.
Additional Solicitor General Raja Thackeray appeared for the Union of India