HC rejects government plea to cancel Hasan Ali’s bail

Observing that the state was not interested in pursuing an appeal it had filed for cancellation of bail granted to Pune businessman Hasan Ali Khan, the Bombay high court dismissed the appeal last week.

The state government had challenged the bail granted to Khan in January 2009 in a case alleging possession of four passports.
The Worli police had alleged that Khan had illegally procured four passports from Hyderabad, London, Patna and Mumbai. Khan is also on the radar of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for charges under the Foreign Exchange Management (FEMA) and the money laundering act which involved a staggering amount of eight billion dollars.

Dismissing the government’s appeal, justice DG Karnik said, “The state government is not interested in serving notice [to the accused and other parties] even after six months of filing an appeal.”

Justice Karnik also added that if the government was not keen on pursuing its own appeal, then the court had no reason to waste time on it.

In December 2008, Khan had surrendered before the Bhoiwada court. He also withdrew his application from the high court seeking quashing of the FIR lodged by the Worli police.