Money laundering case: Anil Deshmukh denied bail by PMLA court

Former Mumbai top cop Param Bir Singh in a letter to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray last year had accused Anil Deshmukh of instructing Sachin Vaze to collect ₹100 crore from bars and restaurants across Mumbai

A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court on Monday rejected the bail plea of former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh in the money laundering case. The denial of bail comes days after the same court had rejected the Nationalist Congress Party leader's appeal for a default bail.

Earlier in the day, both Deshmukh and suspended cop Sachin Vaze appeared before the Chandimal Commission which was appointed by the Maha Vikas Aghadi government to probe ex-Mumbai top cop Param Bir Singh's allegations of corruption against the Nationalist Congress Party leader.

Former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh (ANI)

Days after his removal as the Mumbai police commissioner, Param Bir Singh on March 20 last year had written a letter to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, accusing Deshmukh of instructing Sachin Vaze to collect ₹100 crore every month from restaurants and bars of Mumbai.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on April 21 last year registered a case against the NCP leader on the basis of Singh's charges. Later, the Enforcement Directorate too registered a money laundering case against Deshmukh, his son and others.

During interrogation by the ED, Vaze claimed that on Deshmukh's instructions he had called a meeting of bar owners. Between December 2020 and February 2021, he had collected ₹4.7 crores from the owners of orchestra bars to avoid police interference. According to the ED, Vaze claimed he had handed over the money to Deshmukh's personal assistant Kundan Shinde.

The ED claimed that the ‘extorted' money was sent to Delhi-based Jain brothers who allegedly ran bogus companies using hawala channels and reportedly diverted this money as donations to Nagpur-based Shri Sai Shikshan Sansthan, an educational trust controlled by the Deshmukhs.

Deshmukh was arrested on November 2 after more than 12 hours of grilling at the ED office in Mumbai.

The denial of bail to Deshmukh comes two days after the CBI interrogated Mumbai police commissioner Sanjay Pandey for six hours in connection with the case registered against Deshmukh. In a WhatsApp conversation that leaked online, Pandey allegedly asked Param Bir Singh to withdraw charges against him.

The central probe agency believes that the Mumbai top cop was allegedly acting on behest of the Shiv Sena-Congress-NCP government to weaken the corruption case against Deshmukh.