CBI secures production warrant for taking custody of Anil Deshmukh, Vaze and others

CBI will be able to take them in custody only after the special PMLA court allows them to do so, as all of them are arrested by the Enforcement Directorate and are presently in the custody of the PMLA court

Mumbai: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday obtained a production warrant from the special CBI court for taking custody of former home minister Anil Deshmukh, his personal secretary Sanjeev Palande, personal assistant Kundan Shinde and suspended police officer Sachin Waze in connection with the corruption case against the 72-year-old NCP leader.

Maharashtra, Mar 31 (ANI): Anil Deshmukh, Maharashtra Home Minister speaks to media as he appeals appeal to everyone to not spread rumours and misinformation during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus, in Mumbai on Tuesday. (ANI Photo) (ANI)

CBI will be able to take them in custody only after the special PMLA court allows them to do so, as all of them are arrested by the Enforcement Directorate and are presently in the custody of the PMLA court.

CBI has on April 21, 2021, registered a First Information Report (FIR) based on allegations of corruption levelled by former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh.

In a letter written to Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on March 20, Singh alleged that Deshmukh had instructed certain Mumbai police officers, including dismissed assistant inspector Sachin Vaze, to collect an amount of ₹100 crore every month from Mumbai’s restaurants and bars.

ED has registered a money laundering case against Deshmukh, his son Hrishikesh and others On the basis of the CBI FIR and its probe has revealed that, on Deshmukh’s instructions, Vaze had called a meeting of bar owners, and that, between December 2020 and February 2021 collected ₹4.7 crore from the owners of orchestra bars in Mumbai to avoid police interference.

In his statement to the ED, Vaze revealed that he had handed over the “extorted money” in two instalments to Kundan Shinde in two instalments. Subsequently, they said, Deshmukh’s son Hrishikesh received an amount of ₹4.18 crore routed through Delhi-based shell entities as donations to a Deshmukh-led charitable trust, Shri Sai Shikshan Sanstha, Nagpur.

On June 26, ED had arrested Shinde and Deshmukh’s personal secretary Sanjeev Palande in the money laundering case, and on August 23, filed a charge sheet against them. Vaze is also an accused in the charge sheet.