ED issues second summons Maharashtra transport minister Anil Parab

Shiv Sena leader and Maharashtra transport minister Anil Parab was first summoned by the anti-money laundering agency on August 31. But the minister had then sought some time as he needed to attend some already scheduled public functions

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers have issued a second summon to Maharashtra cabinet minister Anil Parab asking him to remain present before the agency’s officials on September 28 for questioning in connection with former home minister Anil Deshmukh’s bribery-cum-money laundering case.

Sources said that ED is trying to collect strong evidence against Maharashtra transport minister Anil Parab. (HT PHOTO)

Shiv Sena leader and state transport minister Parab was first summoned by the anti-money laundering agency on August 31. But the minister had then sought some time as he needed to attend some already scheduled public functions.

It is pertinent to note that the agency, in its recently filed charge sheet against Deshmukh’s two close (arrested) aides, had stated that the suspended assistant police inspector Sachin Vaze in his statement has claimed that he has overheard someone saying that Parab received crores of rupees through Nagpur’s deputy regional transport officer (RTO) Bajrang Kharmate as a bribe for the transfers of 10 DCPs in Mumbai last year.

Sources said that ED is trying to collect strong evidence against Parab and former home minister Anil Deshmukh to prove the allegations of bribery in transfer and postings of government officers.

Earlier the ED questioned Bajrang Kharmate, one of the officers, against whom an RTO officer had complained, for seven-and-a-half hours.

Kharmate is believed to be a close aide of Parab. His name is said to have cropped up in the statements of some witnesses in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case against Deshmukh. His phone has also been scanned by the investigators.

Earlier in September, ED had raided some places linked to Kharmate in Pune and Nagpur and had also recorded statements of a few witnesses.

The money laundering case against Deshmukh was registered after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a first information report (FIR) against him on April 21. Deshmukh had in the past said that the allegations against him are false.

The Central agency has alleged that while serving as the Maharashtra home minister, Deshmukh misused his position, and through assistant police inspector Sachin Vaze — who has now been dismissed and is in Taloja jail for his alleged role in the Antilia explosives scare and Mansukh Hiran murder cases — collected ₹4.7 crore from Mumbai’s bars for their “smooth functioning”. Later, through hawala channels, the money was sent to two brothers in Delhi who operated bogus companies, said the agency. It claimed that the two brothers later diverted the money as donations to Nagpur-based Shri Sai Shikshan Sansthan, an educational trust controlled by the Deshmukhs.