Bombay High Court grants interim relief to two linked to Bhujbal case

The Bombay high court on Tuesday granted ad-interim protection from arrest till May 25 to two more persons linked to the money laundering case in which former deputy chief minister and NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal and his nephew Sameer have been arrested. Also, a non-bailable warrant (NBW) has been issued against Bhujbal’s son Pankaj and more than 30 others by a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court.

Shailesh Mehta and Dhanpat Seth on Wednesday moved the vacation bench of the Bombay high court seeking protection from arrest as they have challenged NBW issued against them.

Advocate Subodh Desai on behalf of two applicants pointed out to the court that the same bench has granted relief to seven others in the same case, a day ago. Following this, Justice Ajay Gadkari granted interim relief to them and said, “Same relief granted to them till May 25.”

All the persons against whom NBW has been issued by the special PMLA court are approaching the high court claiming the NBW has been issued without following due procedure. The applicants have further contended that the alleged offences with which they have been charged with are non-cognisable offences and warrants could not have been issued against them at the first instance because they were not arrested during interrogation.

Public prosecutor Poornima Kantharia on the other hand has opposed all these applications saying that there is bar on granting pre-arrest bail or ad-interim relief to applicants as per section 45 of Prevention of Money Laundering Act.