Anil Deshmukh fails to appear before ED, requests to record his statement online

ED had, on Monday, issued a second summons to former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh to question him in connection with the alleged money laundering linked to the extortion racket involving dismissed assistant police inspector Sachin Vaze

Former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh again failed to show up at the office of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday. Instead, he sent a letter through his legal representative, requesting the agency to record his “statement on audio/visual mode at whatever time convenient.” He has also sought a copy of the enforcement case information report (ECIR) that ED has registered against him.

Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh. (ANI)

ED had, on Monday, issued a second summons to Deshmukh to question him in connection with the alleged money laundering linked to the extortion racket involving dismissed assistant police inspector Sachin Vaze.

Deshmukh had failed to appear before investigators on June 26 when the first summons were issued.

Responding to the second summons, Deshmukh sent a three-page letter to ED through his lawyer, advocate Inderpal B Singh, on Tuesday morning.

“It would not be possible for me to furnish the documents sought by you unless I am furnished with or supplied the copy of the ECIR MBZO-I66/2021 or list of documents. Unless the said ECIR is perused by me, it will not be possible to furnish the documents sought,” the former minister stated in the letter.

“I have already exposed my person to some extent on June 25, in my long interaction with you spanning over several hours during the course of search and recording of my statement. I will furnish all information and any document that you may require once I am aware of the contents and details thereof. The copy of ECIR is not available with me, I am handicapped and incapacitated to furnish the documents as of now,” he added in the letter.

He said, “Contrary to the fact that I had duly complied with the summons dated June 25 in the letter and spirit by appearing through authorised representative, an adverse propaganda against me was unleashed in social and print media platforms alleging that instead of complying I have sought time to appear.”

The senior Nationalist Congress Party leader further stated that, “I have been repeatedly highlighting that the proceedings being initiated against me at the instance of certain individuals who are themselves guilty of grave offences & have dubious antecedents as also the fact that a political tug of war has been initiated by the Central Government led by a particular political party who seek to abuse their power and authority for vested interest.”

“Please note that your summons do not clarify the particular purpose of my personal appearance. You have arrested two persons who were associated with me. Therefore, insistence on personal appearance without even supplying me a copy of the EClR or documents may strengthen my assertion that there is some kind of malice being nursed against me,” he said in the letter.

If the ED’s investigators are not satisfied with Deshmukh’s letter, the agency may soon issue third summons.

The anti-money laundering agency already arrested Deshmukh’s personal secretary Sanjeev Palande and personal assistant Kundan Shinde early Saturday morning after carrying out raids at their properties in Mumbai and Nagpur on Friday. The two are in ED’s custody up to July 1.

The ED also claimed to have found that Vaze had collected ₹4.7 crore from various orchestra bar owners in Mumbai for “smooth functioning of the bars”. Later, through hawala channels, this money was sent to the Delhi-based Jain brothers who operate paper (bogus) companies, said the agency. It claimed that the Jain brothers, on the instructions of Deshmukh’s son Hrishikesh, diverted this money as donations to Nagpur-based Shri Sai Shikshan Sansthan, a trust controlled by the Deshmukh family.

ED has said that while collecting money from the bar owners, Vaze told them that part of the money was to go to “No.1”, crime branch and the social service branch of Mumbai Police.

ED has also said that when they recorded the statement of Vaze, presently in Taloja jail in connection with his alleged role in the Antilia explosives and Mansukh Hirani murder cases, he told the investigators that Deshmukh had called him to his official residence and instructed him to collect ₹3 lakh from every bar and restaurant in the city. He was also given a list of the establishments.

ED has also identified 24 private entities that are directly and indirectly controlled by the Deshmukh family and found that huge sums of money had moved among them without any rationale.

“From the analysis of the bank accounts of these companies, it is clear that there is no rationale for the transfers and can thus be said that these series of transactions were meant for inflating balance sheets and layering of money from one company to other,” ED had stated.

The money laundering case against Deshmukh was registered based on an FIR by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against him on April 21.

CBI, in turn, started the probe after former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh alleged that the NCP leader ran an “extortion racket” in Mumbai and had instructed some Mumbai Police officers to collect ₹100 crore for him every month from various establishments.

Deshmukh has called the allegations false and claimed that Param Bir Singh levelled the accusations only after being shunted out from the Mumbai Police chief’s post for his poor handling of the Antilia explosives scare and Mansukh Hiran murder cases.