Mumbai: PMLA court rejects plea seeking blanket bail to all MVA MPs, MLAs

A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Mumbai on Friday rejected a plea seeking blanket anticipatory bail for all MPs and MLAs of the Maha Vikas Aghadi as ''not maintainable'', with the court also stating that such an order would set a ''bad tradition''.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi comprises the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena, the Congress, and the Nationalist Congress Party, and was in power in Maharashtra till June 29.

The petition, which was filed in June by Congress workers Madhu Holamagi, Yusuf Patel and Ranjeet Dutta, claimed the Centre was misusing probe agencies to target MVA constituents with the intention of suppressing the (then) state government.

Though the court had sought a response from the Enforcement Directorate, the probe agency didn't appear or file a reply opposing the plea.

Special PMLA Judge MG Deshpande, in his order, said a very astonishing and peculiar situation was being made in this application.

Throughout the application, there is not a whisper that these three applicants are apprehending their arrest, and on this count itself the application is not maintainable and deserves to be rejected, the court said.

Regarding MPs and MLAs of the MVA, there is nothing like a resolution signed by them appointing these three applicants to file an anticipatory bail application on their (legislators') behalf, the court added.

The order also said there was absolutely no strong prima-facie case being made out by the applicants for grant of any relief, either interim or final.

''Applicants are not apprehending their arrest. They are praying for interim protection to third parties. Passing such a blanket order will set a bad tradition. Basically, I hold that the application itself is not maintainable,'' Judge Deshpande said.

In the plea, the three petitioners had referred to the arrests of former state ministers Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik in cases being probed by Central agencies.

The court said these ''cannot be a part of this application as another special court has already dealt with the same''.

Similarly, summons issued for questioning to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi was by the Enforcement Directorate, Delhi and the same is under the territorial jurisdiction of PMLA Special Court, Delhi, the court said.

''Therefore, much discussion is not necessary. Making such allegations and grounds herein is baseless and the same deserves to be rejected,'' the court said.