Mumbai: The Bombay High Court is likely to pass an order on Monday on the bail plea of former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh in a corruption case being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
A single bench of Justice MS Karnik had reserved the order on the plea last week after both sides completed their arguments.
Deshmukh, 74, approached the HC after a special CBI court rejected his bail plea last month. He sought bail on medical grounds as well as on merits.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader has been in jail since November last year after he was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case.
In April this year, he was arrested by the CBI in the corruption case. He is in judicial custody and lodged at the Arthur Road prison in Mumbai.
Deshmukh was granted bail by the high court last month in the ED case.
His bail plea in the corruption case was, however, rejected by the special CBI court noting there was prima facie evidence against him.
In his application, Deshmukh requested to be released on bail saying he was suffering from several ailments and incarcerated for almost a year and that the trial in the case may not commence anytime soon.
The plea alleged the special court while refusing him bail has merely done a "cut, copy and paste" of the CBI charge sheet.
IPS officer Param Bir Singh in March 2021 alleged Deshmukh, then home minister had given a target to police officers to collect Rs 100 crore per month from restaurants and bars in Mumbai.
Dismissed assistant police inspector Sachin Waze, arrested in the 'Antilia' bomb scare case in March 2021, too had levelled similar allegations.
The HC in April 2021 directed the CBI to carry out a preliminary enquiry (PE) into Singh's allegations.
