Two days after he secured bail in the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) money laundering case, Kundan Shinde, ex-personal assistant of former state home minister Anil Deshmukh, on Friday got bail in the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) corruption case - both cases arising out of the same allegations of illegal collection of amounts from restobar owners in the city.
With this relief, Shinde was released from custody on Friday evening. The Bombay High Court had granted bail to both Deshmukh and his personal secretary Sanjeev Palande who are also accused in the case. They had to approach the HC after they were denied bail by the special CBI court in October last year.
Special Judge SH Gwalani directed that at present, Shinde be released on furnishing cash security of Rs1 lakh. After a month, he is supposed to furnish sureties. It also directed that he surrender his passport and stay in the greater Mumbai area till the trial is concluded. Among its bail conditions is that Shinde must report to the CBI’s office regularly for the next three months.
The CBI’s allegation is that Shinde helped Deshmukh in the collection of the ill-gotten cash from dismissed policeman Sachin Vaze (an accused turned prosecution witness). Deshmukh had allegedly instructed Vaze to make collections of Rs100 crore monthly from the city’s restobars. Vaze said he had collected Rs4.70 crore.
Shinde had sought bail through advocate Aniket Nikam on the grounds that he is innocent and being made a scapegoat. He said the agency has arrested him on bleak evidence. He said further that sustained detention without any cogent reasons encroaches on an individual’s personal liberty and is punitive.
Another special court that granted bail to Shinde on Wednesday in the ED's case, had made scathing observations regarding the credibility of Vaze on whose statement the ED had based its case. It had also said that there is a bleak probability of Shinde getting convicted in the case.
