Former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh applied for default bail in a Mumbai special court on Wednesday, claiming that the charge sheet filed against him by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was incomplete and that he was entitled to default bail under a provision that required the federal agency to file charges within 60 days of his arrest.
Deshmukh has been in custody since November 2, when the CBI arrested him in a bribery case on April 6. ‘An incomplete charge sheet is filed by the Investigating agency against the Applicant (Anil Deshmukh) and hence the Applicant is entitled to invoke the remedy of statutory bail as contemplated under the provisions of section 167 (2) of the CrPC (Criminal Procedure Code),’ said the 72-year-old Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader’s application.
A police officer is required by section 173(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code to file a charge sheet against the accused as soon as the investigation is concluded. If the charge sheet is not filed within the stipulated period of 90 days for offences punishable by a minimum sentence of ten years, Section 167 (2) allows the accused to request bail. If the charge sheet is not filed within 60 days, the accused is entitled to default bail for all other offences.
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