Anil Deshmukh taken for medical check up

Former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh, arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case on Monday night, was taken to JJ Hospital for a routine check up on Thursday

Former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh, arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case on Monday night, was taken to JJ Hospital for a routine check up on Thursday.

Anil Deshmukh, 71, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate after a 12-hour on Monday interrogation by officials. He was taken to JJ Hospital for a routine medical check up on Thursday (ANI)

“He (Deshmukh) was brought to the hospital for routine check up at 12.30pm and was taken back to ED office by 1pm,” said Sanjay Surwase, superintendent at JJ Hospital.

Deshmukh, 71, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate after a 12-hour on Monday interrogation by officials.

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.

Officials said Deshmukh 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 had told reporters after his arrest.

A holiday special court on Tuesday remanded him to ED custody till November 6.

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.

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.