The Bombay High Court permitted former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, arrested on charges of money laundering, to withdraw his petition challenging the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) under which he has been booked.
Bhujbal’s lawyer Vikram Chaudhary informed a division bench of Justices R V More and Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi that he wanted to withdraw the petition and file a fresh plea claiming that the beleaguered NCP leader was illegally detained by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Bhujbal was arrested on March 14 by the ED on charges of money laundering.
After his arrest, Bhujbal had approached the high court challenging the constitutional validity of sections 19 and 45 of the PMLA. Section 19 empowers the ED to arrest an accused based on evidence gathered by the agency against the individual, while section 45 deals with bail of the accused.
Chaudhary told the high court that he would withdraw this petition and file a fresh habeas corpus petition under Article 226 of the Constitution against Bhujbal’s illegal detention.
The bench permitted the lawyer to do so and said the new petition can be mentioned before the court on November 18.
