Sena's Sanjay Raut meets NCP's Anil Deshmukh, says latter is innocent

Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut on Friday met Nationalist Congress Party leader Anil Deshmukh, who was released on bail a couple of days ago after spending more than a year in jail.

On Tuesday, the Bombay High Court had refused to further stay its order granting Deshmukh bail in a corruption case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), leading to the former state home minister walking out of Mumbai's Arthur Road prison on Wednesday.

"Deshmukh is innocent. Like him, I have also suffered injustice due to misuse of central agencies. Never before have political opponents been treated in such a brutal manner," Raut told reporters after meeting the 73-year-old NCP leader.

Raut, who was arrested on August 1 in a money laundering case related to the redevelopment of a chawl in suburban Goregaon in Mumbai, was released on bail on November 9.

The court had pulled up the Enforcement Directorate probing the case and had termed Raut's arrest as a "witch-hunt" and "illegal".

Deshmukh is accused of getting police officials to extort money from restaurants and bars in Mumbai while he was state home minister in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government led by Uddhav Thackeray.