Anil Deshmukh Moves SC, Seeks Protection in Money Laundering Case

The former Maharashtra home minister is being investigated by the ED in a criminal case related to money laundering.

Param Bir Singh (left) and former Maharashtra HM Anil Deshmukh (right).

(Image: Eshwar Ranjana/The Quint)

Former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Sunday, 4 July, moved the Supreme Court seeking protection from any coercive action in the case of money laundering levelled against the politician, news agency PTI reported.

Deshmukh's plea comes a day after the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is conducting the investigation, had issued fresh summons to the Congress party leader to appear before the agency on 5 July.

The ED summons are in connection with a criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) related to an alleged Rs 100 crore bribery-cum-extortion racket that had led to Deshmukh's resignation in April this year.

This is the third such summons issued to the 71-year-old NCP leader by the ED as part of the investigation in the case. Deshmukh had skipped the two earlier summons citing his 'vulnerability' to COVID-19 as the reason for non-compliance.

He has been asked to record his statement at the central agency's office in south Mumbai on Monday.

What is the Case?

Former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh is facing an ED investigation on the basis of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case that was the fallout of the allegations made in a letter penned by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh.

Singh had alleged in his letter to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray in March that Deshmukh had fixed a collection target of Rs 100 crore per month for the sacked assistant police inspector Sachin Vaze, who was the then head of the Crime Intelligence Unit of the elite Crime Branch-CID of the Mumbai Police.

Thereafter, Singh had approached the Supreme Court which directed him to go to Bombay High Court where the CBI was asked to conduct a preliminary enquiry.

On 26 June, the ED arrested Deshmukh's personal secretary Sanjeev Palande and personal assistant Kundan Shinde in connection to the bribery case.

In its remand copy of the two aides of Deshmukh, the ED said that over Rs 4 crore was collected from bar owners between December 2020 and February 2021 was routed to Deshmukh's charitable trust in Nagpur, through four shell companies in Delhi.

(With inputs from PTI)