UNI

MUMBAI, Mar 23: In a setback to Mumbai police, Bombay High Court on Thursday granted bail on 'technical grounds' to Palaniappan Manivelan, a co-accused in the case of disproportionate assets registered against suspended 'encounter specialist' Daya Nayak.

The bail was granted after Mumbai police failed to file a chargesheet against him in the stipulated period of 60 days.

Granting bail, Justice V M Kanade directed Manivelan to furnish a surety of Rs 20,000 and asked him to attend the office of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), as and when required by them.

He was also asked not to leave the country without the permission of the court and was further directed to deposit his passport with the probing officials.

Manivelan, who was arrested on January 22, and Nayak's wife Komal have been charged with laundering the allegedly ill-gotten wealth amassed by the suspended police sub-inspector.

The defence sought the bail after citing an apex court order, that if prosecution failed to file a chargesheet within 60 days in an ACB case, the High Court is empowered to release the accused on bail.

On Wednesday, when defence counsel Satish Maneshinde cited precedents that accused have had been granted bail when prosecution failed in filing chargesheets in the stipulated period, Justice Kanade had said if such precedents exist, then the accused could go back to the trial court for seeking the bail.

Earlier, the Sessions Court here had rejected Manivelan's bail plea on February 14. But the counsel contended that since the High Court is hearing the bail plea and is empowered to grant it under section 167 of CrPC, he preferred making the request before this court only.