Deshmukh’s son actively participated in laundering money, ED says rejecting bail

The ED claimed that Hrishikesh helped his father Anil Deshmukh launder the money and projected it as donations for the educational trust controlled by the Deshmukh family

Mumbai The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has opposed the former home minister Anil Deshmukh’s son Hrishikesh Deshmukh’s anticipatory bail application and claimed that he was “an active participant in the laundering of the proceeds of crime.”

ED has further alleged that Anil Deshmukh, as a virtue of his earlier position, had received ₹4.7 crore from various orchestra bar owners for smooth functioning of the establishments and Hrishikesh had in connivance with his father, transferred part of the ill-gotten cash through hawala operators into banking channel as donations. (HT FILE)

The ED further claimed that Hrishikesh helped his father launder the money and projected it as donations for the educational trust controlled by Deshmukh family. Claiming that Hrishikesh, along with other family members, created “a complex web of companies”, in which suspicious transactions have taken place, the ED rejected the bail plea. Further, unaccounted money had been infused in one of the companies controlled by the Deshmukh family and then, the same has been rotated into other companies for expanding the business empire of the Deshmukh family.

The agency has further alleged that Anil Deshmukh, as a virtue of his earlier position, had received ₹4.7 crore from various orchestra bar owners for smooth functioning of the establishments and Hrishikesh had in connivance with his father, transferred part of the ill-gotten cash through hawala operators into banking channel as donations.

It added that Hrishikesh along with other Deshmukh family members became the director of Kolkata-based paper company Zodiac Dealcom, which has actually no business. The applicant thus assisted his father in utilising unaccounted money of ₹9.82 crore to Zodiac Dealcom, by infusing cash into Kolkata-based 18 shell companies.