MUMBAI: A Mumbai court while refusing default bail to former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh in a corruption case has said the Central Bureau of Investigation's charge sheet met all requirements.
Courts cannot be too technical while entertaining bail pleas for not filing the charge sheet within the stipulated period, the special CBI court said on Monday, a detailed order of which was made available on Tuesday.
Judge S H Gwalani had rejected the default bail pleas of Deshmukh and two other accused in the corruption case the NCP leader's former personal secretary Sanjeev Palande and ex-personal assistant Kundan Shinde.
The three sought default bail on the ground that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had not submitted its charge sheet within the 60-day mandated period and that the charge sheet filed by the agency was incomplete.
The pleas also claimed the CBI had not submitted relevant documents along with the charge sheet and that those were submitted after the mandated time period.
The CBI had opposed the pleas and argued that it submitted the charge sheet in the mandated time period.
As per section 173 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), the charge sheet in a case ought to be filed within 60 days from the arrest of the accused.
If not done, then the accused can seek default bail under provisions of CrPC Section 167.
The court said the right to default bail for non-filing of police report (charge sheet) within the stipulated period provided under CrPC Section 167 is an indefeasible right which flows from Article 21 of the Constitution.
"Such indefeasible right cannot be defeated by any subterfuge. The courts cannot be too technical while entertaining an application for bail for not filing the police report within the stipulated period under Section 167 of the CrPC," the judge held.
The court said the charge sheet filed on June 2 by the CBI complied with all the requirements of law and hence was a proper report, filed within the period specified under CrPC Section 167.
The judge said not filing of the documents and statements of witnesses along with the report does not make it an incomplete charge sheet.
Since the requisite report under Section 173 of the CrPC was filed within time, the right to seek default bail never accrued in favour of the applicants (accused), the court said.
The accused cannot make provision of further investigation provided under the CrPC, a reason to say the charge sheet filed against them is incomplete and are entitled for grant of compulsive/statutory or default bail, it said.
Former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh alleged in March 2021 that NCP leader Deshmukh, who was then the state's home minister, had given a target to police officers to collect Rs 100 crore per month from restaurants and bars in the city.
The HC in April last year, while hearing a petition filed by an advocate, directed the CBI to carry out a preliminary inquiry.
The CBI, based on its inquiry, registered an FIR against Deshmukh and his associates on charges of corruption and misuse of official power.
The ED arrested Deshmukh in November 2021, and he is in judicial custody at present. He was arrested by the CBI in the corruption case lodged by it in April this year. He is currently in judicial custody in that case also.