Anil Deshmukh sent to ED custody for six more days in PMLA case

Anil Deshmukh’s counsels, senior advocate Vikram Chaudhri and advocate Aniket Nikam, said although there was much to argue on the merit and maintainability of the ED application, they were voluntarily agreeing to the agency’s custody.

The Bombay high court on Sunday set aside a special court order remanding former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh to judicial custody, and sent him in the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) custody till November 12 in connection with an alleged money laundering case.

Former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh was arrested in the PMLA case last week. (HT PHOTO)

The move by a vacation bench of the high court came after the central agency, on Saturday night, challenged a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court’s decision to send the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader to 14-day judicial custody

Appearing for the ED, additional solicitor general Anil Singh and advocate Shreeram Shirsat told the single judge bench of justice Madhav Jamdar that the special court had not heeded their plea for extension of custody for nine days.

Singh argued that the investigation into the alleged money laundering was at a crucial stage and could be hampered if Deshmukh’s custody was not granted to them.

Deshmukh’s counsels, senior advocate Vikram Chaudhri and advocate Aniket Nikam, said although there was much to argue on the merit and maintainability of the ED application, they were voluntarily agreeing to the agency’s custody. Hence, by consent, the lawyers said that they were not opposing the plea.

The lawyers also pointed out that Deshmukh was cooperating with the investigation right from the day he visited the ED office on November 2 – and arrested 12 hours later – and will continue to do so.

Following his arrest, a court had remanded the former minister in ED custody till November 6 and he was subsequently sent to Arthur Road jail in south central Mumbai. As his ED custody ended on Saturday, the special PMLA court sent him to judicial custody.

After hearing the submissions by ED on Sunday, the court referred to a Gujarat high court order wherein a revision application was allowed on the grounds that, “an order refusing to grant remand has direct bearing on the proceedings of the trial itself and in a given case, will definitely have effect on the ultimate decision of the case”.

“I have gone through the impugned order and also relevant investigation papers. Prima facie there is substance in the contentions raised by Mr Anil Singh and also contentions raised in criminal revision application about the legality of the impugned order,” Justice Jamdar observed, granting the ED custody of the former minister till November 12.

The central agency had registered the money-laundering case against Deshmukh on May 11 on the basis of an First Information Report (FIR) filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on April 21 following allegations of corruption levelled by former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh.

In a letter to Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on March 20, Singh alleged that Deshmukh had instructed certain Mumbai Police officers to collect an amount of ₹100 crore every month from restaurants and bars in the state capital.

The probe agency claimed that the money was sent to Delhi-based Jain brothers who reportedly operated bogus companies using hawala channels. The Jain brothers reportedly diverted this money as donations to Nagpur-based Shri Sai Shikshan Sansthan, a trust controlled by the Deshmukh family.

The ED suspects that the Jain brothers were acting on the instructions of Deshmukh’s son, Hrishikesh, who has also been summoned for questioning in the case.