Court rejects Anil Jaisinghani’s bail plea, allows ED to take custody

Bookie Anil Jaisinghani, arrested in connection with the bribery and blackmailing of Amruta Fadnavis, wife of the Maharashtra deputy chief minister, has had his bail plea dismissed by a special court under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The court also allowed the Gujarat Enforcement Directorate to take Jaisinghani?s custody in connection with a money laundering probe launched by the agency in January 2015. Jaisinghani?s daughter, Aniksha, was arrested for allegedly trying to bribe Fadnavis.

MUMBAI: A special court under the Prevention of Corruption Act rejected the bail plea of bookie Anil Jaisinghani, arrested in connection with the bribery and blackmailing case involving Amruta Fadnavis, wife of deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

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The special court on Saturday allowed Gujarat Enforcement Directorate (ED) to take Jaisinghani’s custody in connection with a money laundering probe launched by the agency in January 2015. It was after the ED launched a probe, the 57-year-old bookie, who has several cases registered against him in Mumbai and Thane in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa as well, had gone into hiding and was evading arrest since then.

He was arrested on March 20 in Gujarat, four days after the Malabar Hill police arrested his 27-year-old daughter Aniksha Jaisinghani for allegedly trying to bribe Amruta Fadnavis.

Soon after Jaisinghani’s arrest, the Madhya Pradesh (MP) police approached the court for his custody. On Saturday, Jaisinghani’s lawyer, advocate Manan Sanghai, complained to the special court that he was taken in custody by the MP police, but they have not informed even his lawyer about when he will be produced before the concerned court.

Sanghai also opposed Gujarat ED’s plea for his custody on health grounds, saying Jaisinghani was not fit to travel. The court, however, rejected his objection and allowed the ED to take the bookie in custody after the custody remand of the MP police was over. The special court is yet to hear the plea of the Goa police, seeking Jaisinghani’s custody.

Meanwhile, the court on Saturday allowed bail plea of the bookie’s cousin Nirmal, who was arrested along with him. Last week, the special court had granted bail to Aniksha.

According to the police, Aniksha, posing as a fashion designer, befriended Amruta Fadnavis and later offered to relay information about cricket bookies to her, saying they could both make money off it.

When the complainant stopped communicating with her, Aniksha offered her a bribe of ₹1 crore in exchange for clearing her father of all charges, the police said. After Amruta Fadnavis dismissed Aniksha, she threatened to reveal details of their conversations and demanded ₹10 crore, the police said. The Malabar Hill police registered an FIR on February 20.