His bail it was stayed for 10 days as the CBI has said it will go to the Supreme Court.
Moments after the Bombay High Court today granted bail to Maharashtra's former Home Minister and Nationalist Congress Party leader Anil Deshmukh in a corruption and abuse of power case filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation, it put it on hold for 10 days as the CBI sought time to challenge it in the Supreme Court.
Mr Deshmukh, 71, had first sought bail in the case as soon as the Bombay High Court granted him bail on October 4 in a money laundering case registered against him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), but a special court had rejected his application.
The NCP leader was arrested on November 2, 2021, and has been in judicial custody. He was admitted to a private hospital in October for coronary angiography.
In March 2021, senior IPS officer Param Bir Singh had alleged that Mr Deshmukh, the then Home Minister, had given a target to police officers to collect Rs 100 crore per month from restaurants and bars in Mumbai.
The ED, which is probing the financial aspect of the case, had alleged that while serving as the state Home Minister, Anil Deshmukh collected Rs 4.70 crore from various bars and restaurants in Mumbai through police officer Sachin Waze.
Earlier, a special court in Mumbai on November 18 granted bail to dismissed Sachin Waze in the case linked to Mr Deshmukh.
Mr Waze, however, did not get out of jail as he is an accused in other cases including the bomb scare incident near industrialist Mukesh Ambani's residence and the subsequent murder of Thane-based businessman Mansukh Hiran.
Sanjay Raut, senior leader of the Shiv Sena's Uddhav Thackeray faction who was granted bail last month, had claimed he saw Anil Deshmukh in jail, who wasn't in good health.
The high court had in April 2021 directed the CBI to carry out a preliminary inquiry. The CBI, based on this inquiry, registered a first information report (FIR) against Mr Deshmukh and his associates for alleged corruption and misuse of official power.
Mr Deshmukh had resigned as the Home Minister in April 2021 after the high court ordered a CBI probe into the corruption charges levelled against him by Singh, former Mumbai Police Commissioner.