A day after his two residences in Mumbai, one home in Nagpur and another property, were raided by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), a Special PMLA court sent two aides of Maharashtra’s former Home Minister Anil Deshmukh to the ED’s custody till July 1 in connection with an alleged money laundering case registered against him.
Deshmukh’s personal secretary Sanjeev Palande and personal assistant Kundan Shinde were arrested late on Friday night.
Additional Sessions Judge UJ More remanded Palande and Shinde in ED’s custody for seven days, after the agency told the court that both of them were not co-operating with the investigators during the first round of questioning that lasted for nine hours.
Having established a trail for Rs 4 crore allegedly paid by the 10 bar owners in Mumbai over a period of three months, the ED had conducted raids on the three residences and one property of Deshmukh on Friday.
Seeking the remand of Palande and Shinde, ED’s counsel Sunil Gonsalves told the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court on Saturday that the Central investigating agency was looking into the alleged corruption in transfers and postings of police officers and alleged extortion of money from bar and restaurant owners in Mumbai.
Among other thing, the ED told the court 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 amount was paid for ‘smooth functioning’ of their establishments and also as ‘good luck money’.
The ED told the court that during its investigations so far, it had come to light 11 companies were controlled by Deshmukh’s family members and another set of 13 companies run by close associates of Deshmukh were controlled by his family members.
The ED told the police that various bank accounts were analyzed to find the money trail while the search operations were carried out at six residential and office premises of directors and shareholders of companies.
The ED also told the court that while CBI was investigating corruption charges against the former minister, it was probing the money trail and proceeds of crime were required to be linked.
The ED informed the court that it was investigating the role of Deshmukh’s organization Shri Sai Shikshan Sanstha from Nagpur, with which Shinde has been associated.
“We need to track the money trail and the roles of Shinde and Palande need to be ascertained. We therefore need the 7-day custody of Shinde and Palande” ED told court.
When the court wanted to know as to where was Rs 4 crore now, ED’s counsel said that the same is with the banks and was being rotated.
Explaining the modus operandi involved, the ED told the court that the money was first sent to Delhi, from where it was routed trust or companies linked to former through hawala sent to some Trust and companies owned Deshmukh. The ED told the court that there were major entries of 2020-21. The agency also told the court that the involvement of foreign angle was not ruled out. It said that Shinde and Palande had a major tole to play in all this.
Refuting the ED’s contention,. Palande’s lawyer Shekhar Jagtap for Palande said that ED’s case was ‘politically motivated’ and the investigations were being conducted in a ‘biased’ manner. He said that the ED had relied on the statement of dismissed police officer Sachin Waze to conduct “illegal” raids on the minisrer’s properties. He denied that either Palande or Deshmukh had either sought or received illegal gratifications
Similarly, Shinde’s lawyer Mehul Thakkar for Shinde said that there was no evidence to show his client being in ‘direct contact’ with Waze and there was no ‘money-trail’ as claimed by the ED.
Nearly a month after the investigating agency registered a money laundering case against Deshmukh under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the ED officials had on Friday raided his residences at Malabar Hills and Worli in Mumbai, his residence at Nagpur and another location belonging to him.
The ED, it may be recalled, had raided 10 locations of Deshmukh in various cities of the state on April 24. At that time, he had been detained and questioned for 10-long hours.
The ED had recorded the statement of Commissioner of Police (DCP) Raju Bhujbal who is currently in-charge of the enforcement wing of Mumbai police and has a social service wing under wings. The social service branch conducts bars, restaurants, dance bars and hookah parlours, which Deshkukh had allegedly targeted for collection of money.
Deshmukh, it may be recalled, had resigned from his post as the State Home Minister on April 5, 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.
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.
Deshmukh is being investigated separately 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 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. It entrusted the investigations in the case to Mukesh Kumar, DSP, AC II, New Delhi.
Three days after he was shunted and posted in a relatively insignificant post as the Commandant General of Home Guards, Singh had in an eight-page sensational letter written to the chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on March 20 alleged that State Home Minister Deshmukh had asked now arrested and suspended police officer Sachin Vaze last month to "collect" a staggering Rs 100 crore per month from bars, restaurants and other sources.
In the operative part of his much-discussed explosive letter, Singh wrote: “.... Sachin Vaze who was heading the Crime Intelligence Unit of the Crime Branch of the Mumbai Police was called by Shri Anil Deshmukh, Hon’ble Home Minister, Maharashtra to his official residence Dyaneshwar several times in last few months and repeatedly instructed to assist in collection of funds for the Hon’ble Home Minister,” Singh wrote in his letter.
“The Hon’ble Home Minister expressed to Vaze that he had a target to accumulate Rs. 100 crore a month. For achieving the aforesaid target, the Hon’ble Home Minister told Shri Vaze that there are about 1,750 bars, restaurants and other establishments in Mumbai and if a sum of Rs. 2-3 lakhs each was collected from each of 3 them, a monthly collection of Rs. 40-50 crores was achievable. The Hon’ble Home Minister added that the rest of the collection could be made from other sources,” the former CP wrote.