Having declined to entertain a plea by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seeking extension of his custody by nine days, a Special Holiday Court on Saturday remanded Maharashtra’s former Home Minister and accused in a money laundering case Anil Deshmukh in judicial custody for 14 days.
On a day when his son Hrishikesh Deshmukh-- who is also being investigated -- approached the Sessions Court seeking anticipatory bail, Sr Deshmukh was produced before Holiday Special Court Judge P. R. Sitre. The Special Judge rejected the ED’s plea to extend Sr Deshmukh’s custody for nine more days. Instead, he sent the former State Home Minister to judicial custody for 14 days.
Seven-one-year-old Deshmukh was arrested in the early hours of November after intense grilling lasting for more than 12 hours in the alleged money laundering case linked to the charges of extortion made against him by Mumbai’s former Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh.
Deshmukh – who had skipped the summons issued by the ED on five occasions -- had said ahead of his arrest: “A false narrative and erroneous impression is being created by the vested interests that I am evading or avoiding to appear before the Enforcement Directorate. Undoubtedly, such propaganda is baseless. All that I ever wanted is a transparent, fair and objective probe without any fear or favour so that the truth is not rendered causality”.
Deshmukh had resigned from his post as the State Home Minister on April 5 2021 within hours after the Bombay High Court ordered a “Preliminary Enquiry” (PE) by the CBI into the serious charges of corruption made against him by Mumbai’s former Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh. He is being investigated by the CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) over the allegations of corruption made by Param Bir Singh.
It may be recalled that on March 20, the former commissioner of police had alleged that State Home Minister Deshmukh had asked now arrested and dismissed police officer Sachin Vaze to "collect" a staggering Rs 100 crore per month from bars, restaurants and other sources in Mumbai.
Deshmukh is being investigated by the CBI in connection with a First Information Report (FIR) registered by it on April 24 section 7 of the amended Prevention of Corruption Act and section 120-b (conspiracy) of IPC for an “attempt to obtain undue advantage for important and dishonest performance of the public duty”.
Having prima facie found “cognisance offences” of corruption and conspiracy against him during a Preliminary Enquiry (PE) conducted by it into the allegations made against him by Mumbai’s former Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh, the CBI on April 21 registered a regular case against him and other unknown people.
Having established a trail for Rs 4.7 crore allegedly paid by the 10 bar owners in Mumbai over a period of three months December 2020 and February 2021, the ED had conducted raids on the three residences and one property of Deshmukh on June 25.
The ED has alleged that of the total amount, Rs 4.18 crore was then deposited in cash with four Delhi-based shell companies– Reliable Finance Corporation Pvt. Ltd, VA Realcon Pvt. Ltd., Utsav Securities Pvt. Ltd. and Sital Leasing and finance Pvt. ltd. These firms subsequently donated the entire money to Shri Sai Shikshan Sansthan Trust, a charitable trust headed by Anil Deshmukh and his family.
Among other things, the ED had told the court on June 26 that Rs. 40 lakh was paid by 60 bar owners to the now dismissed and incarcerated Assistant Police Inspector (API) Sachin Waze in December last year. The bar owners have told the ED that the amount was paid for ‘smooth functioning’ of their establishments and