MUMBAI: A special court in Mumbai on Saturday rejected the plea of the Central Bureau of Investigation for further three-day custody of former Maharashtra home minister and NCP leader Anil Deshmukh in a corruption case.
Stating that sufficient custody has already been granted to the CBI and the ground mentioned in the remand application were "not good and satisfactory", the court remanded Deshmukh, his aides Sanjeev Palande and Kundan Shinde as well as dismissed policeman Sachin Waze in 14-day judicial custody.
Deshmukh and his two aides had been in judicial custody following their arrest in a money laundering case by the Enforcement Directorate, while Waze was in judicial custody after being arrested in the Antilia bomb scare and Mansukh Hiran murder case.
Earlier this month, all the accused were remanded in the custody of the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with a corruption case and were produced before Special CBI Judge DP Shingade on Saturday after their remand ended.
The CBI sought custody of Deshmukh for further three days while not pressing for extension of remand for Waze, Palande and Shinde.
However, rejecting the CBI's plea, the court sent all four accused to judicial custody.
Special public prosecutor Ratandeep Singh, representing CBI, told the court that during previous police custody the accused were further interrogated and were confronted with other witnesses/accused related to the case.
One of the allegations against Deshmukh pertains to corruption in transfer/posting of police officers and officers who managed transfer/ postings allegedly by paying bribes are to be identified and confronted with the accused person, the CBI further told court.
"Therefore, further police custody remand of Deshmukh is essentially required for three days for further interrogation and confrontation with other witnesses/suspects for the purpose of investigation," the SPP added.
Deshmukh's lawyer Aniket Nikam opposed the probe agency's plea saying the same reason, that of needing to confront Deshmukh with co-accused and others, was mentioned in the previous two remand pleas as well.
"Deshmukh has been in their custody for eleven days. How many times they have confronted other witnesses with him? They must disclose to the court. This is just a pseudo reason cited to seek further custody," Nikam submitted, adding that granting custody is "sacrosanct".
"The remand application is absolutely silent on how many persons have been confronted. They don't even care to change setting of paragraph (of remand application). Law is very clear on this. They have to show real progress. Remand cannot be given on whims," Nikam further told court.
Nikam said the CBI was seeking remand of a 73-year-old man on a flimsy ground as it wanted to extract some sort of confession, which is inadmissible in eyes of law.
Deshmukh should be remanded in judicial custody in view of his health and also because the remand report is "stereotypical", Nikam said.
After hearing both sides, the judge remanded Deshmukh, Palande, Shinde and Waze in judicial custody, ruling that "sufficient CBI custody of accused Anil Deshmukh has already been granted".
The court noted that pertinently, in earlier remand applications, the CBI had based their grounds for seeking Deshmukh's custody as per the allegations in the FIR about exercising influence over the transfer and posting of officials and considering the said grounds, the CBI custody was granted.
"Therefore, in my view, since sufficient CBI custody was granted, the grounds for further custody of accused Anil Deshmukh stated in the remand application are not good and satisfactory, " the court added.
Former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh had, in March last year, alleged that Deshmukh, then home minister, had given a target to police officers to collect Rs 100 crore per month from restaurants and bars in the metropolis.
Deshmukh has denied the allegations.
The CBI had lodged an FIR after conducting a preliminary enquiry against Deshmukh following an order of the Bombay High Court last April.
The NCP leader had resigned from the state cabinet after the HC order.