In a major embarrassment for the collation government in Maharashtra, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) late Monday (1 November) night arrested former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh.
Earlier Deshmukh was questioned for over 12 hours in connection with the money laundering case and the former Maharashtra minister who belongs to the Sharad Pawar led Nationalist Congress Party appeared before the ED to record his statement around noon.
Anil Deshmukh who is a very powerful politician in the state had filed a plea cancelling the agency’s summons in the laundering case filed against him, which was rejected by the Bombay High Court because Deshmukh had been evading being questioned by the ED for months and had exhausted his legal remedies, reports Times of India.
The former state home minister had been on the run as the ED raided several places in the last few months to trace Deshmukh’s whereabouts, but could not find the former state minister.
However, when Deshmukh arrived at the ED office at Ballard Estate in Mumbai on Monday, the investigating officer started questioning him and the agency has also flown an additional director from Delhi in the evening to supervise the process.
Earlier, the ED had arrested Deshmukh’s private secretary Sanjeev Palande and personal assistant Kundan Shinde for allegedly helping Deshmukh and his son Hrishikesh with money laundering.
According to the ED, Deshmukh, through his aide, Shinde, had collected Rs 4.7 crore from (now-dismissed) assistant police inspector Sachin Waze in cash who then headed the CIU branch of Mumbai police and had collected the money from orchestra bar owners of Mumbai illegally for Deshmukh.
Also, former Mumbai Police Commishanar Param Bir Singh in a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had accused Deshmukh of interference and using the police to extort up to ₹ 100 crore every month.
Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.