Anil Deshmukh Skips ED Summons Again, Says Probe 'Neither Fair Nor Impartial'

This is the fourth summons issued by the ED for which Anil Deshmukh has not appeared.

File image of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Anil Deshmukh.

(Photo: Altered by Eshwar Gole/The Quint)

Former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh and his son Hrishikesh on Monday, 2 August, failed to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) once again in connection with its probe into money laundering allegations.

This is the fourth summons issued by the ED for which Deshmukh has not appeared.

According to a Hindustan Times report, in a two-page letter to the ED, Deshmukh claimed that the agency’s probe was “neither fair nor impartial” given that his plea seeking protection from “coercive action” is yet to be heard before the Supreme Court.

As per the Hindustan Times report, Deshmukh in his plea stated that “the summons have been issued solely with an aim to create a prejudice so as to either serve the media or sensationalise the matter before the (Supreme) Court by alleging purported non-compliance thereof by me."

However, the Supreme Court on Friday did not grant any protection from arrest and has listed the plea to be heard on 3 August.

The ED is probing a criminal case under PMLA related to an alleged bribery-cum-extortion racket that had led to Deshmukh's resignation as Maharashtra home minister in April this year.

The ED investigation is on the basis of the CBI case that was the fallout of the allegations made in a letter penned by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh.

Earlier, in July, Deshmukh had moved the Supreme Court seeking protection from any coercive action in the case of money laundering.

The probe agency has issued summons to the leader multiple times to appear before it. In a letter to ED on 5 July, Deshmukh had said the probe was "not transparent."

“A series of events has given rise to apprehensions in my mind that neither procedure of law is being followed nor any objective investigations are being carried out,” Deshmukh had written.

(With inputs from IANS, Hindustan Times)