The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested suspected bookie Anil Jaisinghani in a money laundering case linked to an under probe Indian Premier League (IPL) ‘betting racket’, officials said on April 8.
Mr. Anil Jaisinghani and his daughter Aniksha were recently arrested by the Mumbai Police for allegedly hatching a conspiracy to bribe and blackmail Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s wife Amruta Fadnavis and using private messages, purportedly hers, to extort money from her when she refused to save Mr. Anil Jaisinghani from several FIlodged against him.
The Ahmedabad office of the ED took his custody on April 7 approaching a Mumbai court with a production warrant and seeking his custody under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The ED was acting upon an open non-bailable warrant issued in the past against Mr. Anil Jaisinghani by an Ahmedabad court that was issued in connection with the 2015 money laundering case linked to alleged betting in the IPL matches being probed by the federal agency.
The agency is understood to be recording Mr. Anil Jaisinghani’s statement in this case having obtained his custody on April 7.
Mr. Anil Jaisinghani was recently also taken into custody by the Madhya Pradesh Police in a case of alleged bootlegging.
The father-daughter pair is alleged to have hatched a conspiracy as part of which Ms. Aniksha developed friendly relations with Ms. Amruta Fadnavis and then requested her to “save her father from the several criminal cases pending against him as the husband of the complainant [Amruta Fadnavis] is a public servant.” Ms. Aniksha tried to offer a bribe of ₹1 crore to Ms. Amruta Fadnavis.
The Malabar Hill Police Station in south Mumbai on February 20 registered an FIR against Mr. Anil Jaisinghani and Ms. Aniksha for allegedly threatening to make public certain audio and video clips that purportedly show Ms. Amruta Fadnavis accepting favours from Ms. Aniksha.
Ms. Aniksha, who was arrested on March 17, was granted bail in the case on March 27 by the court.
Mr. Anil Jaisinghani, who was arrested by the Mumbai Police from Gujarat, is currently in judicial custody after the court rejected his bail plea.