MUMBAI: Holding that nothing indicates money was collected from MumbaiтАЩs bars on the instructions of former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh except for approver Sachin WazeтАЩs statement, the Bombay high court on Monday granted bail on merit to the 73-year-old politician.
The bail, set at Rs 1 lakh, will be effective after 10 days in the interest of justice and after considering the controversy, said the HC bench of Justice MS Karnik, on a CBI plea.
Waze has said he had collected Rs 4.7 crore from bar owners between December 2020 and February 2021 and handed it over to Kundan Shinde (DeshmukhтАЩs PA) as instructed by Deshmukh, said CBI, which is probing the case. The CBIтАЩs case is that Deshmukh as minister had asked the police to collect Rs 100 crore every month from the cityтАЩs bars and similar establishments.
Justice Karnik said the тАЬquestion of reliability of WazeтАЩs version is a matter of trialтАЭ. The high court noted that Waze was arrested last year for the alleged murder of a person in connection with the Antilia terror threat case and that тАЬhe is allegedly involved in extortion cases, fake encounter case, etcтАЭ.
DeshmukhтАЩs old age and his multiple ailments are a factor to be considered, said the judge.
Senior advocate Vikram Chaudhri, assisted by advocate Aniket Nikam, submitted for Deshmukh that to rely on the statement of the approver (Waze) тАЬis fraught with peril and is in the teeth of the settled law that such a person is unworthy of credit unless corroboratedтАЭ.
The judge said Deshmukh had been granted bail in тАЬPMLA case despite the rigour of the restrictionsтАЭ.
The bail, set at Rs 1 lakh, will be effective after 10 days in the interest of justice and after considering the controversy, said the HC bench of Justice MS Karnik, on a CBI plea.
Waze has said he had collected Rs 4.7 crore from bar owners between December 2020 and February 2021 and handed it over to Kundan Shinde (DeshmukhтАЩs PA) as instructed by Deshmukh, said CBI, which is probing the case. The CBIтАЩs case is that Deshmukh as minister had asked the police to collect Rs 100 crore every month from the cityтАЩs bars and similar establishments.
Justice Karnik said the тАЬquestion of reliability of WazeтАЩs version is a matter of trialтАЭ. The high court noted that Waze was arrested last year for the alleged murder of a person in connection with the Antilia terror threat case and that тАЬhe is allegedly involved in extortion cases, fake encounter case, etcтАЭ.
DeshmukhтАЩs old age and his multiple ailments are a factor to be considered, said the judge.
Senior advocate Vikram Chaudhri, assisted by advocate Aniket Nikam, submitted for Deshmukh that to rely on the statement of the approver (Waze) тАЬis fraught with peril and is in the teeth of the settled law that such a person is unworthy of credit unless corroboratedтАЭ.
The judge said Deshmukh had been granted bail in тАЬPMLA case despite the rigour of the restrictionsтАЭ.
