Former Maharashtra minister Anil Deshmukh, arrested by ED, to oppose remand before court today
Anil Deshmukh was arrested by the ED in the early hours of Tuesday in connection with the alleged ₹100-crore extortion and money laundering case.
Former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) late on Monday in connection with its money laundering probe in an alleged extortion racket, will on Tuesday oppose his remand before the court, according to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader’s lawyer.
Anil Deshmukh, who appeared before ED for the first time on Monday after skipping multiple summons for the last four months, was arrested by the agency in the early hours of Tuesday in connection with the alleged ₹100-crore extortion and money laundering case. According to an ED official, the NCP leader was arrested after 12 hours of questioning at the central agency office on Monday.
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Officials said Deshmukh, 71, was arrested under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) as they claimed that the senior NCP leader was evasive during questioning and the agency will seek his custody after they produce him before a local court on Tuesday.
"We cooperated in the investigation related to a case involving ₹4.5 crore... We will oppose his (Anil Deshmukh) remand when he is produced before the court today," Inderpal Singh, the lawyer of Deshmukh told reporters.
The former minister arrived at the ED office to join the investigation in extortion and money laundering allegations against him on Monday.
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"Today, I have presented myself before the Enforcement Directorate. Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh made false allegations against me. Where is he today? As per media reports, he has left the country," Deshmukh said in a video.
On Friday, Bombay high court rejected former Anil Deshmukh's petition challenging the ED summons for him to appear before the agency.
ED filed a case against Deshmukh and others after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) booked him in a corruption case related to allegations made by former Mumbai Police commissioner Singh.
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Singh alleged, in a letter to Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray after he was removed from the police commissioner's post, that Deshmukh asked Waze to extort over ₹100 crore a month from bars and restaurants in Mumbai. Deshmukh denied any wrongdoing and said that Singh made the allegations against him after he was removed from the post of Mumbai Police chief.
The federal probe agency will record Deshmukh’s statement under PMLA in connection with the criminal investigation being carried out by it in the alleged ₹100 crore bribery-cum-extortion racket in Maharashtra police.