Mumbai . While allowing the application for passport renewal of former Maharashtra minister Anil Deshmukh's son, a special court here has said that pending trial on money laundering charges cannot be a sufficient ground for not allowing passport renewal.
Special Judge RN Rokade on Wednesday accepted Salil Deshmukh's application. In this, a request was made to direct the Enforcement Directorate to return the seized passport of Salil so that he can apply for its renewal. ED has accused Salil Deshmukh and his father and former state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh and some others of money laundering.
Salil was not formally arrested by the ED in the case. The agency named Salil as an accused in its charge sheet. After this he appeared in the special court which granted him bail in November 2022. Salil Deshmukh said in his application that his passport had expired in January 2022. He had sought permission to renew the passport for 10 years.
The agency opposed the petition and argued that Salil Deshmukh has not cooperated in the investigation and there are chances of him absconding. She said that Salil Deshmukh is facing trial for the offense of money laundering which is of a serious nature. However, the court said that the permission sought was only for passport renewal and the ED had no contention that Salil had violated any of the conditions imposed at the time of grant of bail.
He said that the prosecution has not presented any valid grounds for the rejection of the application. The court said, 'Mere prosecution under Section 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act is not sufficient to deny permission to the applicant for passport renewal.' The court directed that the ED hand over the passport to Salil Deshmukh so that he can apply for renewal. Can do. The court also said that after renewal, Salil Deshmukh will once again submit the passport to the ED.
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