Court allows CBI to question Deshmukh in Arthur Road jail

Additional sessions judge Rahul Rokade allowed CBI to question Deshmukh, lodged at Arthur Road jail in Central Mumbai, between March 3 and March 5, in presence of a jail official

Mumbai A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court on Tuesday granted permission to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to question former home minister Anil Deshmukh in the corruption case registered against him.

The CBI had filed a miscellaneous application before the PMLA court in whose custody Deshmukh is presently after being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on November 2 on the allegations of money laundering (Bhushan Koyande)

Additional sessions judge Rahul Rokade allowed CBI to question Deshmukh, lodged at Arthur Road jail in Central Mumbai, between March 3 and March 5, in presence of a jail official.

The court allowed CBI deputy SP Mukesh Kumar, investigating officer Alok Kumar Singh and assistant investigating officer Saubik Kumar to visit the Arthur road jail and also carry with them necessary electronic devices to record Deshmukh’s statement.

Earlier, the court had granted permission to the CBI team to record statements of Deshmukh’s personal secretary Sanjeev Palande and personal assistant Kundan Shinde, and dismissed assistant police inspector Sachin Vaze, arrested by the National Investigation Agency in Antilia explosives scare and Mansukh Hiran murder case.

The CBI had filed a miscellaneous application before the PMLA court in whose custody Deshmukh is presently after being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on November 2 on the allegations of money laundering.

CBI has on April 21, 2021, registered a case against Anil Deshmukh and others for the offences punishable under section 120-B of the IPC and section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, on the basis of 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 had 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 claimed that on Deshmukh’s instructions, Vaze had called a meeting of some orchestra bar owners and demanded ₹3 lakh each from them.

Vaze, ED claimed in it’s charge sheet against Palande and Shinde, had collected ₹4.7 crore from orchestra bar owners between December 2020 and February 2021 and had handed over the extorted money to Kundan Shinde in two instalments.