A special court that denied default bail to former state home minister Anil Deshmukh in a money laundering case, has said in a detailed order that his argument for claiming default bail is not only far-fetched, but also devoid of merits.
The politician’s main ground while seeking the relief was that the court had not taken cognizance of the chargesheet within the 60 days period of his arrest and hence that the extension of his custody to beyond the period, is illegal. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) - the prosecuting agency in the case, had filed the chargesheet against him and his two sons on Dec 29, within 60 days of his arrest on Nov 2 last year. Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh appearing for the ED, had opposed the Nationalist Congress Party leader’s plea and argued that taking cognizance was not necessary and that the agency was only required to file the charge sheet within the stipulated time, which it had done.
Special judge under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) RN Rokade said in his order made available on Friday, that the ED had filed the chargesheet within 60-days, therefore the extension of Deshmukh’s judicial custody cannot be held per se illegal. The court stated that the accrual of statutory right of default bail is dependent on the singular factor of non-filing of chargesheet within the stipulated time. Further, that taking cognizance of the chargesheet was not essential for exercising the judicial power to grant default bail. It called Deshmukh’s argument not only far-fetched, but devoid of merits.
“Taking cognizance of the report of the investigating agency is within powers of the court for which the investigating agency cannot be put to accountability,” the court stated.
Judge Rokade said in his order that the indefeasible right accrued to the accused is enforceable only prior to filing of chargesheet and and does nor survive once it is filed and added that it is extinguished the moment the chargesheet is filed.
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