Court grants bail to ex-Maha minister Anil Deshmukh's aide in corruption case

A special court on Friday granted bail to Kundan Shinde, an aide of former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh, in a corruption case being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Special CBI judge S H Gwalani allowed the bail plea of Shinde, who worked as a personal assistant to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Deshmukh, Shinde's lawyer Aniket Nikam said.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had in June 2021 arrested Shinde in connection with a money laundering case, and later the CBI took his custody in a corruption case.

A special PMLA court on Wednesday allowed Shinde's bail plea in the money laundering case.


Other accused in the case include Anil Deshmukh and dismissed assistant police inspector Sachin Waze. Deshmukh is out on bail, while Waze continues to be in judicial custody.

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

Former assistant police inspector Waze, who was arrested in the case of an explosives-laden vehicle found near industrialist Mukesh Ambani's house in Mumbai last year, had also levelled similar allegations.

The high court in April 2021 directed the CBI to carry out a preliminary inquiry.

Based on the inquiry, the central agency had registered an FIR against Deshmukh and others for alleged corruption and misuse of official power.