In a setback to Gajanan Patil, who allegedly posed as the personal aide of revenue minister Eknath Khadse, a special Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) court in Mumbai on Wednesday rejected his bail application in connection with a case of alleged demand of bribery.
The prosecution’s case is that Patil had demanded a bribe of Rs 30 crore from the complainant when he had visited the minister’s office in connection with an issue concerning a plot of land in Kalyan.
The special ACB judge Ninaji Khandu More had remanded Patil to judicial custody on Tuesday. The same day Patil had filed for bail and his plea was posted on Wednesday for hearing.
On Wednesday Patil’s lawyer argued before the court that his client had been falsely implicated in the case, which was proved by the delay in the filing of the FIR. The lawyer said that the complaint is a matter of afterthought. He also said that there is nothing that the police needs to recover from or at that instance of the applicant and the police would not be able to interrogate him because he had already been remanded to judicial custody. Hence there is no point in keeping him in jail, he argued.
On the other hand, public prosecutor Jaisingh Desai opposed the bail plea saying that the accused has good relations with politicians and if released on bail there is a possibility he would tamper with evidence and witnesses. He said the investigation is at a crucial stage. He told the judge that while the accused had claimed the demand of bribe was a prank, he had demanded money three to four times and was not giving any clear reason why and at whose instance he repeatedly demanded money.
The lawyer said that the agency is still probing the role of other persons too and granting him bail could have a negative impact on the probe and hence he should not be granted bail.
After hearing all the arguments judge More rejected Patil’s bail plea.
Following the incident, Mr Khadse had issued a statement distancing himself from Patil and claimed that Patil was neither his personal aide nor his employee. He informed said Patil was just a worker from his constituency.
