Anil Deshmukh corruption case: Sanjeev Palande monitored collection from Mumbai bars, ED tells HC

Anil Deshmukh’s personal secretary, deputy collector Sanjeev Palande and personal assistant Kundan Shinde jointly passed on the NCP leader’s instructions to the dismissed Mumbai Police officer Sachin Vaze about the collection to be made from bars and restaurants in the city, ED has claimed in its affidavit filed in HC

Former home minister Anil Deshmukh’s personal secretary, deputy collector Sanjeev Palande and personal assistant Kundan Shinde jointly passed on the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader’s instructions to the dismissed Mumbai Police officer Sachin Vaze about the collection to be made from bars and restaurants in the city, Enforcement Directorate (ED) has claimed in its affidavit filed in Bombay high court (HC). ED added that the duo also monitored the collection.

Anil Deshmukh’s personal secretary, deputy collector Sanjeev Palande and personal assistant Kundan Shinde jointly passed on the NCP leader’s instructions to collect bribe from bars. (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT PHOTO)

ED has registered the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) against Deshmukh and others on May 11, 2021, based on a first information report (FIR) registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Deshmukh on April 21. The CBI FIR, in turn, is based on the allegations of corruption levelled by former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh.

In a letter written to the chief minister and others on March 20, Singh alleged that Deshmukh had instructed some Mumbai police officers, including dismissed assistant inspector Sachin Vaze, to collect an amount of ₹100 crore every month from bar owners in the city.

ED has arrested both, Palande and Shinde, on June 26 in the money laundering case. Palande has since moved the high court for quashing of the ECIR on various grounds. The affidavit filed by investigating officer of the case, assistant director Tassine Sultan, opposed the petition, stating that Palande and Shinde used to pass on Deshmukh’s instructions to Vaze and other Mumbai Police officers, who were entrusted to collect bribe amounts from bars and restaurants.

It adds that the duo also used to monitor the work of bribe collection from Mumbai bars and the facts were corroborated by Vaze, arrested by the National Investigation Agency in connection with the Antilia explosive scare and connected murder of Thane trader Mansukh Hiran, in his statements given to ED.

In his statements to ED, Vaze has said that on Deshmukh’s instructions he held a meeting with some bar owners in his erstwhile office at the Criminal Intelligence Unit (CIU) of the Mumbai crime branch and between December 2020 and February 2021, collected an amount of ₹4.70 crore from orchestra bars in Mumbai and handed over the cash to Shinde in two instalments.

ED said its investigation revealed that Deshmukh’s son Hrishikesh had subsequently got an amount of ₹4.18 crore routed through Delhi-based shell entities as donations to a Shri Sai Shikshan Sanstha, Nagpur, controlled by the Deshmukh family.