Anil Deshmukh moves Mumbai court seeking bail in CBI case

Former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh has approached a Mumbai court seeking regular bail in the 2021 corruption case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) after a court-directed enquiry. .The plea by the senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader was filed two days after the Bombay High Court granted him bail in the money laundering case registered by the Enforcement Directorate based on the CBI FIR. Special judge SH Gwalani directed the CBI today to respond to the bail application and posted the matter for hearing on October 14. .Deshmukh claimed in the bail plea filed through advocate Aniket Nikam that CBI's entire case rests on the "whims and fancies of the investigative agency". "The credibility of the statements on which the case of the CBI rests is extremely doubtful and the credentials of all such people raise a question mark of serious nature. The entire case is based on the statement of former Mumbai Police Commissioner Parambir Singh and dismissed Mumbai cop Sachin Waze against whom there is ample evidence available on record that Waze himself was in fact the sole person instrumental in the collection of illegal bribe money from the bar owners," the bail application stated. Deshmukh contended that Waze's credibility was of grave concern more so because he had become an approver. "The investigation carried out by CBI do not inspire any confidence and on the contrary expose the premiere instigating agency of the country to have become a mere pawn in the hands of vested interests and acting for extraneous and malafide considerations," the application said. He further submitted that he is under incarceration since November 2, 2021, however he had been arrested by the CBI only on April 4, 2022, which indicated that there had been no necessity of arrest. "The arrest therefore, is in itself an act of malice," Deshmukh emphasized. .Deshmukh and his associates are being investigated for alleged corruption between 2019 and 2021.Based on findings of a preliminary investigation into a complaint of advocate Dr. Jaishri Patil, the CBI booked Deshmukh and unknown others. The inquiry was launched after the Bombay High Court issued a direction to that effect on April 5, 2021, in response to a petition filed by Param Bir Singh, former Commissioner of Mumbai Police.Based on the CBI case, the ED initiated money laundering case against Deshmukh and arrested him in November 2021.Deshmukh was later apprehended by the CBI in the first week of April this year. He was detained by the CBI until April 16 before being remanded to judicial custody.Deshmukh had applied for default bail claiming CBI filed an 'incomplete' chargesheet in the corruption case. This was rejected by the Special judge on June 2, 2022.