The Bombay High Court on Thursday granted interim protection from arrest till April 2 to wife and son of Shiv Sena (UBT) legislator Rajan Salvi in an alleged disproportionate assets case registered by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB). The court has granted interim relief with the condition that they will appear before the investigating agency and hand over documents to support their case.
Salvi's wife Anuja and son Shubham had approached the high court seeking pre-arrest bail following the ACB case under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act.
Allegations against the family
The ACB said that it conducted an investigation between 2009 and 2022 after allegations that the family had amassed disproportionate assets which were much higher than their known sources of income.
Anuja had shown her income from a typing centre, from purchasing and selling mangoes and also running of Konkan railway ticket booking centre. The investigating agency, however, said that she did not substantiate the claims with documents and that her assets were 297% higher than her known sources of income. Salvi had 54.9% higher assets than his known source of income and his son had 721% higher assets, ACB claimed.
Opposing the plea, prosecutor Hiten Venegavkar submitted that the Salvis were given an opportunity to support their income with documents, but the family failed to furnish any documents.
The Salvi family had shown loans from various persons for purchasing land and for construction of property, however, the investigation had revealed that those persons from whom Salvis had taken loan, themselves had no source of income, Venegavkar added.
Defence lawyers Sudeep Pasbola and Rahul Arote said that the Salvi family has all the necessary documents to support their claim. Justice Sarang Kotwal while granting interim relief said that if the investigation agency is not satisfied with the documents, then they can begin investigation on that behalf.
The court has directed Anuja and Shubham to remain present before the investigators between March 4 and 8 between 1pm and 5pm.
