Mumbai, Feb 4 (Reporter): The Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted bail to Suraj Chavan, a Shiv Sena (UBT) functionary who was arrested early last year for his alleged role in a purported Rs 6.37 crore scam related to the distribution of khichdi among migrant workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Justice Milind Jadhav, while granting bail, directed that the accused be released on a provisional cash bail of Rs 1 lakh immediately, Chavan has been permitted to provide one or two sureties of the same amount within four weeks from his release. Granting the conditional bail, the court asked Chavan not to leave Maharashtra without permission of the trial court and to desist from influencing any witness or tampering with evidence. He has also been asked to inform the Enforcement Directorate about his current contact details. Justice Jadhav in his order further directed Chavan to report to the Investigating Officer in ED office on specific dates and asked him to cooperate with the conduct of the trial and not to take unnecessary adjournments during the same. As per ED, Chavan was suspected to have been involved in financial irregularities linked to the distribution of “Khichdi” by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to migrant workers during the Covid-19 pandemic. The ED said Chavan was arrestED as he failed to explain the links and did not cooperate in the probe. In his bail plea, Chavan had told the court that the central agency had a pick-and-choose policy, as the owner of the company Force One Multi Services, who got the work orders, was not arrested despite having more influence. His plea, filed through advocate Harshad Bhadbhade, further claimed that he was not informed of the grounds for his arrest and was never told what reasons the agency had to believe that he had committed any offence. The plea also alleged that no such reasons were shown before the magistrate, who remanded Chavan to ED custody. Chavan also claimed that he had been falsely implicated as he was with the Shiv Sena (UBT) and pointed out that the ED had singled him out to arrest out of all the accused. While opposing the plea, the ED said that the arresting officer had provided details of the scheduled offence leading to the initiation of an investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act against the accused. The agency also said that following the investigation, the investigating officer concluded that Chavan was allegedly guilty of laundering the money that was provided to him...////...