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The Supreme Court Monday agreed to hear on Tuesday a plea filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) challenging the Bombay High Court order granting bail to former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh in a money laundering case.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the ED, mentioned the matter for urgent listing before a bench comprising Chief Justice U U Lalit and Justice S R Bhat.
The bench said the matter will come up for hearing tomorrow before a bench headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud.
The high court had on October 4 granted bail to Deshmukh in the case registered by the ED observing “two components of credits” in the account of his family trust were not “proceeds of crime.
The high court had, however, stayed the order till October 13 after Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh said the ED will challenge it in the apex court.
Two components of credits (Rs 10.42 crore and Rs 1.12 crore) in the account of a trust controlled by the Deshmukh family, flagged by the ED, were not “proceeds of crime,” the high court had noted in the order.
The high court had also said the statements given by former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh and dismissed officer Sachin Waze alleging that Deshmukh had taken money from police officers for favourable postings were “prima facie hearsay”.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader, arrested on November 2, 2021, is also facing a corruption case registered by the CBI.
The high court had in April 2021 directed the CBI to carry out a preliminary enquiry over allegations of extortion levelled by Param Bir Singh.
The CBI, based on this enquiry, registered an FIR against Deshmukh and his associates for alleged corruption and misuse of official power. The ED began its probe after the CBI registered the case.
The ED claimed Deshmukh had misused his official position and collected Rs 4.70 crore from various bars and restaurants in Mumbai.
The money was channelled to Nagpur-based Shri Sai Shikshan Sansthan, an educational trust controlled by the Deshmukh family, it alleged.
Param Bir Singh had alleged in March 2021 that Deshmukh, the then home minister, had given a target to police officers to collect Rs 100 crore per month from restaurants and bars in Mumbai.
The then assistant police inspector Waze, arrested in the ‘Antilia’ bomb scare case in March last year, too, had levelled similar allegations.
Deshmukh has denied the allegations.
On September 26, the apex court had expressed displeasure over the delay in hearing Deshmukh’s bail plea and directed the high court to decide it expeditiously. The bail plea was pending in the high court since March 21.
