Maharashtra’s former Home Minister Anil Deshmukh’s wife Aarti and son Salil have moved the Bombay High Court challenging the provisional attachment of assets by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the money laundering and corruption case against Mr. Deshmukh.
The petition was filed on November 20 and was heard on Monday by a division bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Madhav Jamdar. The plea was filed by advocate Inderpal Singh which challenged the original notice of attachment by the ED. The attached assets include a flat worth ₹1.54 crore and land worth ₹2.67 crore.
The court said there are serious questions on the adjudicating authority and posted the matter to be heard on January 14, 2022.
The case goes back to April 5, 2021, when the Bombay High Court directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to conduct a preliminary inquiry against Mr. Deshmukh. On April 21, ED registered a FIR against him under sections of the Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act.
As per ED’s probe 11 companies were directly controlled by the family members of Mr. Deshmukh and another 13 companies came to light which are in the names of close associates of Deshmukh family. Bank account statements show that money flowing from companies indirectly controlled by Mr. Deshmukh’s family members to companies directly controlled by his family members.
There are statements of bar owners and managers that reveal that dismissed police officer Sachin Vaze, currently lodged at Taloja Central Jail, collected money from them. Mr. Vaze in his statement also revealed that he was getting direct instructions from Mr. Deshmukh to do so. Mr Vaze also alleged that he was told to collect ₹3 lakh per month from various bars and restaurants and that he handed over ₹4.70 crores from December 2020 to February 2021 to Kundan Shinde (personal assistant) on behalf of Mr. Deshmukh.
