A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act court allowed the central agency on April 1 to take Deshmukh into custody
MUMBAI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is likely to take former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh into custody on Wednesday in connection with a corruption case registered against him by the central agency in April 2021.
On April 1, a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court had allowed the agency to take custody of Deshmukh, his personal secretary Vijay PalandeVaz and personal assistant Kundan Shinde, all arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the money laundering case, from Arthur Road jail where they are currently lodged.
The CBI took custody of Palande and Shinde, but could not take in Deshmukh as he was admitted to Sir JJ Group of Hospitals on April 2 after he allegedly had a fall in the jail on March 30, resulting in a shoulder dislocation.
The state-run hospital discharged Deshmukh on Tuesday afternoon and sent him back to jail.
CBI registered the corruption case against the Nationalist Congress Party leader on April 21, 2021 based on allegations of corruption levelled by former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh.
In a letter to Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on March 20, 2021, Singh alleged that Deshmukh instructed certain Mumbai police officers, including assistant inspector Sachin Vaze, to collect ₹100 crore every month from Mumbai’s restaurants and bars.
Subsequently, the ED also registered a money laundering case against Deshmukh, son Hrishikesh and others. On Deshmukh’s instructions, Vaze allegedly called a meeting of Mumbai bar owners, and collected ₹4.7 crore from them between December 2020 and February 2021 to ‘avoid’ police interference.
In his statement to the ED, Vaze revealed that he handed over the “extorted money” in two instalments to Kundan Shinde.
On June 26 last year, ED arrested Shinde and Deshmukh’s personal secretary Sanjeev Palande, and on August 23, filed a charge sheet against them. Vaze is also an accused in the charge sheet.
