Mumbai court issues process against Anil Deshmukh for not responding to ED’s summons

The agency has moved to prosecute Deshmukh for non-compliance under section 174 of the Indian Penal Code.

A metropolitan magistrate court on Friday issued process against former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh for failing to comply with the summons issued to him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and has asked him to appear before the court on November 16.

Former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh. (HT File Photo)

After the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader failed to appear before the agency despite several summons, ED has moved the court to prosecute Deshmukh for non-compliance under section 174 (non-attendance in obedience to an order from public servant) of the Indian Penal Code, which prescribes punishment of up to one month’s simple imprisonment or fine up to ₹500.

ED’s counsel, advocates Arvind Aghav and Shreeram Shirsath, argued that the agency had summoned Deshmukh five times under section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, on June 25 and 28, July 2 and 30 and August 16.

Except for the first summon, all others were for personal appearance, they said. They added that Deshmukh had himself received the first summons and the other summons were received by his family members and lawyer.

“The accused, however, wilfully neglected and failed to appear before the agency and thus has contravened section 174 of IPC,” ED’s lawyers said.

Additional chief metropolitan magistrate RM Nerlikar accepted their contentions. The court observed that considering the documents on record and submissions made, prime facie, a case was made out, and issued process against Deshmukh.

ED has arrested Deshmukh’s personal assistant Sanjeev Palande and secretary Kundan Shinde in the money laundering case against the former home minister and filed a detailed charge-sheet against them, in which dismissed assistant police inspector Sachin Vaze – now in jail for Antilia explosives scare and Mansukh Hiran cases – is also named an accused.

The central agency has alleged that on Deshmukh’s instructions, Vaze had called a meeting of bar owners from Mumbai and demanded a monthly amount of ₹3 lakh from each of them. ED has stated in its charge sheet that Vaze had collected ₹4.7 crore from various bar owners between December 2020 and February 2021 at Deshmukh’s behest. According to the agency, Vaze handed over the extorted money to Shinde and subsequently, a part of the amount was routed to Deshmukh’s charitable trust in Nagpur through various shell companies.

The agency claimed that its investigation began after former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh had alleged that Deshmukh had directed Vaze to collect ₹100 crore every month from establishments in Mumbai. Singh approached the Bombay high court (HC) and filed a petition in the matter. Based on HC’s order, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) initially conducted a preliminary inquiry and on April 21 registered an offence under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, after which ED started its investigation.