Debangana Ray
Published on July 12, 2022 at 18:14 IST
A Special Central Bureau of Investigation court rejected the bail plea of former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, who is under arrest in connection with a corruption case registered in April 2021.
Special Judge SH Gwalani rejected the plea filed by the 73-year-old Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader. His counsel, advocate Aniket Nikam, said his team will study the order and decide on challenging it in a higher court.
Deshmukh, who was arrested by the CBI , approached the special court for a default bail, claiming that the central agency failed to file a complete charge sheet under Section 173(2) of the CrPC, against him in required time, making him entitled to default bail.
The application filed by the petitioner stated that, “An incomplete charge-sheet is filed by the investigating agency against the applicant (Deshmukh) and hence the applicant is entitled to invoke the remedy of statutory bail as contemplated under the provisions of Section 167 (2) of the CrPC.”
“Section 167(2) of the CrPC confers a right of bail on the accused if the investigating agency defaults in filing charge sheet within the time period stipulated in the section.”
The Central agency filed the charge sheet on June 2, well before the stipulated period of 60 days ended, but Deshmukh had claimed that it was incomplete.
“The investigation is said to be complete if sufficient material is collected by the investigating officer, based on which cognisance can be taken under Section 167 of the CrPC.” his plea said.
The plea further stated that, “An incomplete charge sheet filed without completing the investigation cannot be used to defeat the right of statutory bail under Section 167(2) of the CrPC.”
The central agency on the other hand claimed that the charge sheet it filed satisfied the requirement of Section 173(2) of the CrPC.