Mumbai court grants interim bail to 5 in ED case against Anil Deshmukh

The Mumbai court granted interim bail to two Delhi-based purported hawala operators, a businessman and 2 chartered accountants of Anil Deshmukh. The court has posted their regular bail pleas for hearing on December 1

A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court on Wednesday granted interim bail to five persons booked by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the money laundering case against former home minister Anil Deshmukh.

ED claimed that its probe revealed that on the instructions of Anil Deshmukh, dismissed Mumbai Police officer Sachin Vaze called a meeting of some bar owners and collected ₹4.7 crore from them for the smooth functioning of their establishments (ANI FILE)

Special PMLA Judge M G Deshpande granted interim bail to Delhi-based purported hawala operators Surendra Kumar Jain and Virendra Kumar Jain, businessman Kishore Dewani, and Deshmukh’s chartered accountants Vinod Hassani and Vishal Khatwani on a personal bond of ₹3 lakh each. The court has posted their regular bail pleas for hearing on December 1.

ED claimed that its probe revealed that on Deshmukh’s instructions, Vaze called a meeting of some Mumbai bar owners and collected ₹4.7 crore from Orchestra Bar owners for smooth functioning of their establishments.

Subsequently, ED claimed, Deshmukh’s son Hrishikesh got an amount of ₹4.18 crore routed through Delhi-based shell entities – operated by the Jain brothers - as donations to a Deshmukh-led charitable trust, Shri Sai Shishan Sanstha, Nagpur.

Hassani and Khatwani had allegedly introduced Jain brothers to Hrishikesh, purportedly for converting the ill-gotten cash into donations to the family-controlled Shri Sai Shikshan Sanastha, Nagpur.