Maha Ex-HM Deshmukh moves special court to seek default bail

Mumbai: Former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh approached a special court here on Tuesday, seeking default bail in connection with a money laundering case registered against him by the Enforcement Directorate.

Deshmukh was arrested by the ED on November 2, 2021 and is currently in judicial custody. In his plea filed through advocate Aniket Nikam, Deshmukh said the special court had not taken cognisance of the prosecution complaint (charge sheet) filed by the ED before remanding him to further judicial custody.

Deshmukh pointed out that he has been in custody for 60 days and since the court has not yet taken cognisance of the charge sheet, he should be granted default bail under the provisions of Section 167 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).

As per Section 167 of the CrPC, if a charge sheet is not filed and its cognisance is not taken within 60 days from a person's arrest, then he/she can seek default bail.

Deshmukh in his application claimed that on December 29, 2021, the ED in a surreptitious manner , without informing the court that the statutory period of 60 days expires on January 1, 2022, obtained his further judicial custody till January 9, 2022.