The Enforcement Directorate has issued fresh summons against the former Home Minister of Maharashtra and NCP leader Anil Deshmukh.
The probe agency has called upon Deshmukh to appear before it on July 05 for further interrogation in a money laundering case.
This is the third such summons issued to Deshmukh to join investigation in the money laundering case. He has been asked to record his statement at the central agency's office in south Mumbai on Monday.
72-year old political leader had skipped the two earlier summons citing his 'vulnerability' to COVID-19 as the reason for non-compliance in his last communication to the agency. He instead offered the ED to record his statement through video conferencing.
Money Laundering Case
The summons are in connection with a criminal case registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) related to an alleged ₹ 100 crore bribery-cum-extortion racket that led to Mr Deshmukh's resignation in April this year.
The first summons followed raids conducted by the ED at his premises in Mumbai and Nagpur apart from that of his aides and some others last month. The agency subsequently arrested two of his aides in this case, personal secretary Sanjeev Palande, 51, and personal assistant Kundan Shinde, 45. They are in ED custody till July 6.
The agency, sources said, apart from the present case wants to question Mr Deshmukh about his and his family members' alleged links with certain shell companies that were being used to launder funds much before the present allegations of bribery in the Mumbai Police setup came to light.
The ED case against Deshmukh and others was made out after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) booked him in a corruption case related to allegations of at least ₹ 100 crore bribery made by former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh.
In his letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray after he was removed from the police commissioner's post, Mr Singh had alleged that Mr Deshmukh had asked suspended Mumbai Police assistant police inspector (API) Sachin Waze to extort over ₹ 100 crore a month from bars and restaurants in Mumbai.
Mr Deshmukh had to resign from his post in April following the allegations and he has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)