Former Home Minister of Maharashtra Anil Deshmukh moved the Bombay High Court on Thursday to quash the summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the money laundering case against him.
The matter came up before Justice Revati Mohite-dere. She, however, rescued herself, saying, “not before me.”
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On April 5, a Division Bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G.S. Kulkarni directed the CBI to conduct an inquiry into allegations of corruption and money laundering against the former Minister. He stepped down the same day.
On April 21, the CBI registered a FIR against him under sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and section 7 (public servant taking gratification other than legal remuneration in respect of an official act) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Soon, ED stepped in and issued five summons against the Nationalist Congress Party leader to appear for questioning. However, he did not appear before it, saying he would be seeking appropriate remedy under the law.
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No relief from SC
He was also denied relief from the Supreme Court, where he urged the court to protect him from arrest.
The case dates back to March 2020, when former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh wrote a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray alleging instances of corruption against Mr. Deshmukh.
As per the ED’s probe, 11 companies were directly controlled by Mr. Deshmukh’s family members and another 13 companies came to light which are in the names of close associates of the family. Bank account statements showed that money was flowing from the companies indirectly controlled by the family members to companies directly controlled by them.
There are statements of bar owners and managers that say that dismissed police officer Sachin Vaze, currently lodged in the Taloja Central Jail, collected money from them. Mr. Vaze, in his statement, said he was getting direct instructions from Mr. Deshmukh to do so. He alleged that he was told to collect ₹ 3 lakh a month from various bars and restaurants and that he handed over ₹ 4.70 crore from December 2020 to February 2021 to Kundan Shinde (personal assistant) on behalf of Mr. Deshmukh.