The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected the anticipatory bail plea of suspended Nationalist Congress Party leader Padamsinh Patil who is accused of conspiring to kill social activist Anna Hazare.
The apex court dismissed the appeal filed by Patil against the decision of the Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court refusing to stay his arrest in connection with the case registered on a complaint by Hazare alleging that he had conspired to murder him.
"No ground is made out for grant of anticipatory bail to Patil. The Special Leave Petition is dismissed accordingly," a Bench comprising Justices D K Jain, M K Sharma and R M Lodha said adding Patil's regular bail plea could be heard expeditiously if he surrenders within a week.
"We direct that if Patil surrenders within a week from today and applies for regular bail, his prayer shall beconsidered as expeditiously as possible," the Bench said.
Hazare had in September filed a complaint with the Parner police in Ahmednagar based on the confessional statement of Parasmal Jain, an accused in the murder case of Congress leader Pawanraje Nimbalkar.
"Jain in his statement before a magistrate had said Patil had offered him supari (contract killing sum) to murder me," Hazare said in his complaint.
Patil was arrested by Central Bureau of Investigation in June this year for allegedly hatching the conspiracy of Nimbalkar's murder. A sessions court in Alibag had granted him bail in the case in September.