Khushi Doshi
Published on: March 15, 2022 at 17:21 IST
In the Money Laundering Case, a Special Court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act has Refused to approve Bail to former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh. After hearing the Case for more than a month, Judge RN Rakade held his decision for December 2021.
According to the Court, there are inconsistencies in the Witness Statements, which the Court cannot consider at this time.
Senior Counsel representing Deshmukh made the following Arguments:
- The current Case is an Abuse of Power that was filed in Order to Harass Deshmukh.
- The Central Bureau of Investigation has already filed a Charge-sheet in the main Case, and the trial is unlikely to begin anytime soon.
- The Investigation concluded that the Evidence recovered was insufficient to charge Deshmukh and questioned how he was Arrested in the first place.
- Some Prevention of Money Laundering Act Provisions have been challenged and are currently before the Supreme Court.
- The Investigating agency questioned over a thousand Witnesses during the course of the Investigation, and none of them claimed that Deshmukh influenced them.
Addtnl. Solicitor Anil Singh, on the other hand, Opposed the Bail Application on the following Grounds:
- Anil Deshmukh is the Primary Suspect in the Case.
- Deshmukh has always been considered the most likely Suspect in this Case.
- Deshmukh wields considerable Power, and there is a chance that he will conceal the Money Trail.
- Deshmukh was instrumental in generating and Laundering illegal money collected from bar and hotel owners and passing it off as Legitimate Donations.
It is worth noting that the current Bail Petition was Filed ten days after the Special Court Rejected the default Bail Petition.