In a relief for Mandakini Khadse, wife of former state revenue minister and NCP leader Eknath Khadse, the Bombay High Court on Thursday granted interim protection from arrest, till December 7. The HC has however ordered her to cooperate with the probe and appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) whenever asked for.
A single-judge bench of Justice Nitin Sambre was hearing the anticipatory bail plea filed by Mandakini, one of the prime accused in the Pune land deal case.
Mandakini had approached the bench following a non-bailable warrant issued against her by a special court designated to hear cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The special court had issued the warrant on Tuesday after she failed to appear before it.
Notably, Khadse, his wife, and son-in-law Girish Chaudhary have been named by the ED in its chargesheet filed in the land deal case. As per the ED, Khadse had misused his office as a revenue minister while in the then BJP government.
