Anil Deshmukh was actively involved in money laundering: Court

The ED registered the money-laundering case against former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh in May 2021 on the basis of a First Information Report the Central Bureau of Investigation filed in April that year.

The evidence on record suggests former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh was actively involved in money laundering, a special court has observed in its order rejecting his bail plea. The court said the evidence also suggested Deshmukh, 72, exercised undue influence on transfers and postings of police officers during his tenure.

A file photo of former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh in Mumbai, India. (ANI)

The verdict was pronounced on Monday, but a detailed order was made available on Thursday. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Deshmukh on November 2.

The Prevention of Money Laundering (PMLA) court said ED’s investigation suggested approximately ₹10.42 crore were credited into the bank account of Deshmukh-led charitable trust Shri Sai Shikshan Sanstha in the garb of donations from Delhi based paper companies. “It is pertinent to note that an amount of ₹ 2.83 crore has been credited during the tenure of the applicant [Deshmukh] as Home Minister of Maharashtra,” said special judge Rahul Rokade. “No reasonable explanation on part of the applicant in respect of the donations received through shell companies. Statement of the applicant is evasive on this aspect of the matter.”

The court said if statements of chartered accountant Sudhir Baheti, alleged hawala operators Surendra Jain and Virendra Jain are considered in juxtaposition with the money trail, “prima-facie it can be safely inferred that the applicant is actively involved in money laundering.”

It noted the investigation is going on and in the backdrop of the evidence, it is not possible “to record a satisfaction that there are no reasonable grounds to believe that the applicant is guilty of money laundering”.

The court said the condition under Section 45 of PMLA was not satisfied and that Deshmukh was not entitled to bail. It added his age and period of incarceration are irrelevant for granting bail.

The court referred to the alleged corruption in transfers and postings of police officers during Deshmukh’s tenure. “One thing is clear from the statements [of witnesses] that an unofficial list of police officers relating to transfers and postings used to be prepared at the instance of the applicant and used to be forwarded to the Police Establishment Board,” the court said.

The Board is a statutory body of bureaucrats for transfers and postings of police officers to avoid political interference in policing.

“Prima-facie, there is material to indicate that recommendations received from the applicant used to be included in the final orders prepared by the Police Establishment Board and there is evidence to indicate that the applicant had exercised undue influence over the transfers and postings of police officials,” the court said.

The ED registered the money-laundering case against Deshmukh in May 2021 on the basis of a First Information Report (FIR) the Central Bureau of Investigation filed in April that year. The FIR was filed on the basis of corruption allegations former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh levelled against Deshmukh.

In a letter to Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on March 20 last year, Singh alleged Deshmukh instructed certain police officers to collect ₹100 crore monthly from Mumbai’s restaurants and bars.

ED has claimed that on Deshmukh’s instructions, dismissed inspector Sachin Vaze collected ₹4.7 crore from the owners of orchestra bars in Mumbai between December 2020 and February 2021. It has alleged his son, Hrishikesh, got ₹4.18 crore routed through Delhi-based agents as donations to the Deshmukh-led trust.