India, April 20 -- A Pune court on Saturday granted bail to Milind Deshmukh, the former secretary of the Servants of India Society (SIS), in connection with a case of alleged financial misappropriation.

Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) AA Pande approved Deshmukh's bail application, setting a surety amount of Rs.50,000.

Defence lawyer Ujjwala Pawar, representing Deshmukh, had on Wednesday questioned the timing of his arrest, pointing out that it was made even before a forensic audit could be conducted into the alleged misappropriation of Rs.1.42 crore at the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (GIPE), which is affiliated with SIS.

Pawar, while seeking bail, referred to the official audit reports of GIPE for the financial y...