Former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh sent to 14-day judicial custody

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Nov 06, 2021: Former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on November 2 in connection with a money laundering case registered against him, was sent to 14-day judicial custody by a holiday sessions court on Saturday.

 

The court, however, refused to grant a nine-day extension of Deshmukh’s custody requested by the ED.

The Enforcement Directorate had sought further custody of Anil Deshmukh for interrogation, claiming that the former Maharashtra minister had remained evasive in his replies during questioning and gave "vague answers".

Alleging that Anil Deshmukh’s "intransigence is delaying the investigation", the ED had sought further custody of the former Maharashtra minister to "probe further his role in money laundering".

The Enforcement Directorate also mentioned that due to holidays, "certain documents couldn’t be obtained and certain persons couldn’t be examined".

Meanwhile, Anil Deshmukh’s lawyer Inderpal Singh opposed the agency’s plea for further custody and claimed that Deshmukh has been interrogated for 10 hours daily by Enforcement Directorate during the last few days of custody.

Judge P R Sitre heard the arguments in the Mumbai sessions court on Saturday.
The CBI had first registered a case against Anil Deshmukh following a Bombay High Court order in April this year. The CBI investigation pertained to the money laundering charges levelled against the former Maharashtra home minister by Param Bir Singh.On March 20, former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh in a letter to CM Uddhav Thackeray had alleged that Deshmukh had asked dismissed Mumbai cop Sachin Vaze and ACP Sanjay Patil to extort Rs 100 crore a month, of which the majority was to come from bars and restaurants.

Param Bir Singh’s allegation was backed by Sachin Vaze, who is himself facing prosecution by the National Investigating Agency (NIA) in the Antilia bomb scare and Mansukh Hiren death case.

Anil Deshmukh was booked by the ED after the CBI registered an FIR against him in the Rs 100 crore extortion case.

Investigating the case, the CBI had conducted searches at Deshmukh’s residences in Mumbai and Nagpur, followed by searches at the residences of his personal secretary and personal assistant. In June, ED officials arrested Deshmukh’s personal secretary Sanjeev Palande and his personal assistant Kundan Shinde.

ED officials had also found a trail of Rs 4.18 crores extorted by Vaze laundered through shell companies to an educational trust run by Deshmukh and his family in Nagpur. Both Palande and Shinde have been charge-sheeted by ED in the case.

Anil Deshmukh was arrested by the ED on the intervening night between November 1 and 2 after being questioned for over 12 hours in connection with the money laundering case.

Courtesy:India Today