Mumbai: A special court on Tuesday granted bail to Salil Deshmukh, elder son of former state home minister Anil Deshmukh, after he appeared before it in connection with a money laundering case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Mr Salil appeared before the special court designated to hear cases registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) pursuant to summons issued by it in February after taking cognisance of the charge sheet submitted by the investigating agency. He has been arraigned as an accused in the case.
Court asked him to deposit his passport with the court
He filed an application through his advocate Aniket Nikam requesting the court to accept his appearance and grant him bail.
The court granted him bail against a personal bond of Rs 3 lakh, asked him to deposit his passport with the court and attend the proceedings regularly. The court also directed him not to tamper with the evidence.
Mr Salil’s bail application contended that the accusations levelled against him were “absolutely unfounded”, and that he was never arrested by the ED in the case to date. He stated that he has cooperated in the investigation.
However, the ED opposed his bail plea saying he had not heeded the court summons twice. The investigating agency had also claimed that Mr Salil appeared in November responding to summons issued in February.
Scheduled offence remained confined to the 'acts of omission and commission'
Mr Salil’s plea further contends that while the scheduled offence remained confined to the “acts of omission and commission” of his father as then home minister, the present PMLA case has “spread it tentacles” beyond the precincts of the scheduled offence and certain accusations which are unrelated to offences levelled against him.
The plea stresses on the fact that Anil Deshmukh has been granted bail in the case by the Bombay High Court on October 4. “The high court in its order had clearly stated that none of the properties or assets (mentioned in the ED complaint) was derived or obtained from proceeds of crime,” it added.
Mr Salil has further contended that he is neither named in the scheduled offence nor has any role to play in any act of the omission or commission that may have been attributed to his father. Also, he has no criminal antecedents and comes from a respectable family and hence is not a flight risk.
