ED issues third summons to ex-Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued the third summon to former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh in connection with an alleged money laundering case linked to a purported bribery racket operated through dismissed Mumbai Police officer Sachin Vaze

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued the third summon to former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh in connection with an alleged money laundering case linked to a purported bribery racket operated through dismissed Mumbai Police officer Sachin Vaze.

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A senior ED officer, confirming the development, said that the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader has been asked appear before investigators at ED’s south Mumbai office at 11am on July 5.

The agency has also summoned Deshmukh’s son Hrishikesh on Tuesday.

Deshmukh had failed to visit the agency’s office for questioning despite two summons. Through his lawyers, he had sought documents pertaining to ED’s complaint against him and also requested the agency to record his statement online. Both his requests were turned down by the agency.

Deshmukh had earlier denied all the allegations against him in the past and claimed that he is cooperating with ED.

The central agency on June 26 had arrested Deshmukh’s personal secretary Sanjeev Palande and personal assistant Kundan Shinde on the grounds that they have “deep knowledge” of all of Deshmukh’s activities. The duo is in ED’s custody till July 6.

The agency has claimed that it has found that Vaze had collected ₹4.7 crore from various orchestra bar owners in Mumbai for the “smooth functioning of the bars”. Later, through hawala channels, this money was sent to two Delhi-based brothers who operated bogus companies, said the agency. It claimed that the brothers, at the behest of Deshmukh’s son Hrishikesh, diverted this money as donations to Nagpur-based Shri Sai Shikshan Sansthan, a trust controlled by the Deshmukhs.

ED has claimed that while collecting money from bar owners, Vaze told them that a part of the amount was to go to “No 1”, the crime and the social service branches of Mumbai Police.

The anti-money laundering agency has also said that Vaze – who is currently in Taloja jail in connection with his alleged role in the Antilia explosives scare and Mansukh Hirani murder cases – in his statement to ED claimed that Deshmukh had called him to the latter’s official residence and instructed him to collect ₹3 lakh from every bar and restaurant in the city. He was also given a list of the establishments.

ED has also identified 24 private entities that are directly and indirectly controlled by the Deshmukh family and found that huge sums of money had been transferred to them.

“From the analysis of the bank accounts of these companies, it is clear that there is no rationale for the transfers, and it can thus be said that these series of transactions were meant for inflating balance sheets and layering of money from one company to other,” ED had stated.

The agency also said that during Palande during his interrogation admitted that a meeting was held on March 4 with police officers, in which a discussion with regard to Covid-19 restrictions on bars had taken place. Palande in his statement also allegedly said that Deshmukh had a role in transfer postings of police officers, especially with respect to those belonging to the IPS (Indian Police Service) ranks. However, the defence lawyer had refuted this allegation.

The money laundering case against Deshmukh was registered based on an FIR (first information report) by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against him on April 21. CBI had started the probe after former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh alleged that the NCP leader ran an “extortion racket” in Mumbai and had instructed some officers to collect ₹100 crore for him every month from various establishments.

Deshmukh had called the allegations false and claimed that Singh levelled the accusations only after he was shunted out from the Mumbai Police chief’s post for his “poor” handling of the Antilia explosives scare and Hiran murder cases.