Money laundering case: SG Tushar Mehta to represent ED in Anil Deshmukh’s petition

​Deshmukh has been issued five summons, asking him to appear before ED in connection with the money-laundering and corruption case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on April 21.

The Bombay high court (HC) has allowed the Solicitor General (SG) of India to respond on behalf of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to the petition filed by former home minister Anil Deshmukh for quashing of the summons issued to him by the central agency.

Anil Deshmukh has been issued five summons asking him to appear before ED in connection with the money-laundering and corruption case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on April 21. (HT PHOTO)

​Deshmukh has been issued five summons asking him to appear before ED in connection with the money-laundering and corruption case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on April 21.

On Thursday, when Deshmukh’s petition came up for hearing before the division bench of justice SS Shinde and justice NJ Jamadar, additional solicitor general (ASG) Anil Singh informed the bench that SG Tushar Mehta wanted to address the court in the petition, hence sought an adjournment.

However, senior advocate Vikram Chaudhri and advocate Aniket Nikam who represent Deshmukh opposed the request and submitted that ED was resorting to delaying tactics on one pretext or the other and the petitioner felt victimised.

“This petition demonstrates a hapless state of affairs...Tactics by ED are deplorable. The manner in which it (ED) applied the law, it becomes a matter of oppression,” submitted Chaudhri. While seeking interim relief for his client, Chaudhri stated that previously the ED had secured an adjournment after it had raised an objection on whether a single judge bench could hear the petition. The single judge had conducted a hearing on the issue and had directed the petition to be placed before a division bench.

However, Singh denied the allegations and submitted that the objection about the single judge hearing the petition was raised by the HC Registry and hence the ED could not be blamed for the delay.

After hearing the submissions that the court adjourned the hearing of the petition to September 29 and asked SG Mehta to respond on behalf of ED through video conference. The court also permitted ED to file a reply if they wanted to.

Deshmukh who has been issued five summons by ED till now had written multiple times to the agency to allow him to appear before it through video conferencing in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, as he had not received any response from ED he approached the HC.

Deshmukh’s petition apart from seeking quashing of the summons has also sought permission to allow him to be represented by an authorized agent and submit documents or statements to ED through electronic mode. The petition has also sought directions to set up an SIT comprising of ED officers from outside the Mumbai zonal office to carry out the investigation and requested the HC to monitor the probe as per the directions issued by the Supreme Court in another case.

ED’s probe has claimed that when Deshmukh was the home minister, he had received an amount of ₹4.7 crore in cash which was collected by now dismissed Mumbai police officer Sachin Vaze from various bar owners between December 2020 and February 2021. ED has justified its probe stating that it is in line with the

CBI FIR which was filed after the completion of the HC ordered a preliminary inquiry on April 5. The April 5 order was based on the complaint of former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh who had alleged that Deshmukh had ordered police officers to collect ₹100 crore from bar owners every month.