Mumbai: Former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Tuesday moved a special court here for bail for not filing the charge sheet within the stipulated period in the money laundering case registered against him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Petition was filed in the Special Court. Deshmukh was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on November 2, 2021 and is currently in judicial custody.
In the petition, filed through advocate Aniket Nikam, Deshmukh said the special court did not take cognizance of the chargesheet filed by the ED before sending him to further judicial custody. Deshmukh told that he is in custody for 60 days and since the court has not yet taken cognizance of the charge sheet, he should be given statutory bail under the provisions of Section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
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secretly taken judicial custody
As per Section 167 of CrPC, if the charge sheet is not filed and cognizance is not taken of a person within 60 days of his arrest, he can seek statutory bail. Deshmukh claimed in his application that on December 29, 2021, the ED had secretly obtained his judicial custody till January 9, 2022, without informing the court that the statutory period of 60 days was expiring on January 1, 2022. Did it
ready to pledge
It has been said in the petition that if the investigation is not completed on the expiry of the said period of 60 days as per the provisions of the law and cognizance of the charge sheet is not taken, then the accused gets an unavoidable right to statutory bail. It said that Deshmukh is ready to furnish surety bail to the satisfaction of the court. The special court designated to hear cases under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) is likely to hear Deshmukh’s bail plea on Wednesday. The ED had filed a 7,000-page supplementary charge sheet against Deshmukh and his sons on December 29, 2021. According to the prosecution, Deshmukh and his family members were owners of several companies which were used for money laundering.