Ex-Maharashtra Home minister and NCP leader Anil Deshmukh was on Monday granted bail by the Bombay High Court in a corruption case being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation. However, Deshmukh will have to wait at least another 10 days before he can walk out of jail as the High Court kept the bail order in abeyance for the said period after the probe agency sought time from the court to challenge it in the Supreme Court.

The order by the High Court’s single bench of Justice M S Karnik came after it allowed Deshmukh’s bail plea following conclusion of arguments by both sides. Deshmukh, 74, is currently in judicial custody and lodged at the Arthur Road prison in Mumbai. He had moved the high court after a special CBI court rejected his bail plea last month. Deshmukh had sought bail on merits as well as on medical grounds.

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“We argued on health grounds. His health was deteriorating and we produced his health records before the court… CBI said they will go to higher court against this order, court allowed them and in that context, stayed the order for 10 days,” Aniket Nikam, the lawyer representing Anil Deshmukh said following the hearing.

Deshmukh was arrested by the ED in a money laundering case in November last year and has been in jail ever since. Later in April this year, he was arrested by the CBI in the corruption case in which he secured bail on Monday. The high court granted bail last month to Deshmukh in the money laundering case registered by the ED.

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The special CBI court had earlier rejected Deshmukh’s bail plea in the corruption case, noting that there was prima facie evidence against him.

IPS officer Param Bir Singh had in March 2021 alleged that Deshmukh, as home minister, had given a target to police officers to collect Rs 100 crore per month from restaurants and bars in Mumbai.

A Preliminary Enquiry by the CBI was ordered by the high court in April 2021 against Deshmukh. The CBI subsequently registered an FIR against Deshmukh and his associates for alleged corruption and misuse of official power.

(With PTI inputs)