MUMBAI: After spending a night in prison on orders of the state assembly, Maharashtra's Election Commissioner Nand Lal was released on Friday and immediately declared war on Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, accusing him of 'political vendetta'.
Nand Lal, who was kept in Arthur Road Jail where underworld don Abu Salem is also lodged, has challenged his conviction in the Bombay High Court.
On Thursday, the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly had approved a resolution, sentencing the former IAS officer to two days 'simple custody' following a report of the House Privileges Committee in a breach of privilege matter against him in 2006.
Soon after the House passed the resolution, Nand Lal was picked up by policemen in plain clothes from his first floor office opposite Mantralaya and taken to the jail in central Mumbai.
He was released at 10.30 am. Explaining the logic behind Nand Lal not spending two full days in the jail, a Vidhan Bhawan official said "he was sentenced to two days simple custody and not to 48-hour simple custody".
"He was taken into custody before sunset yesterday which was counted as the first day of his sentence. He was released after sunrise, which was counted as second day of his sentence," the official said.
Shortly after coming out of the jail, Nand Lal, who has been at loggerheads with the Chief Minister, blasted him for "exerting pressure through intermediaries to de-reserve Deshmukh's Latur constituency in Marathwada region".
