The Bombay High Court has recently expanded the interim protection from arrest till April 27 granted to former Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Hasan Mushrif in connection with a money laundering case.
Therefore, the court directed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to file its affidavit in response to his pre-arrest bail plea.
Hasan Mushrif, a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader, is facing charges of money laundering and filed the application in the high court on Wednesday after a special court on April 11 rejected his anticipatory bail plea.
Previously, while rejecting the anticipatory bail plea, the sessions court granted protection from arrest to Mushrif till April 14. This protection enabled him to approach the high court.
On Thursday, when Mushrif’s application came up for hearing before the bench of Justice Anuja Prabhudessai, the additional solicitor general Anil Singh, appearing for the ED, sought time to respond to the NCP leader’s plea.
At this, Advocates Abaad Ponda and Prashant Patil, appearing for Mushrif, pointed out that the former minister has been given interim protection from arrest until now and has. Thus, been cooperating with the investigation and his statement has also been recorded.
Earlier, while granting the agency time to file its affidavit, extended the interim protection from arrest granted to Mushrif.
Mushrif’s plea seeks anticipatory bail, claiming that he was being targeted by his political rivals, which got spearheaded by BJP leader Kirit Somaiya. It added that Mushrif has been cooperating with the investigation and hence his custody wasn’t required by the ED.
The petition said that “The manner in which the complaint is registered clearly indicates malafide intent and the applicant (Mushrif) apprehends that the complaint would be used to put him behind bars in order to achieve oblique political conspiracy.”
Further, the ED’s probe is based on an FIR registered in Kolhapur and a complaint filed by the Registrar of Companies concerning allegations with regard to the allotment of shares of Sarsenapati Santaji Ghorpade Sugar Factory to farmers against deposits of Rs 10,000.
Central probe agency’s investigation has revealed that the amount collected from 40,000 farmers was diverted to various companies standing in the name of his three sons. The probe agency claimed that these companies are “fake and shell”.
