Anil Deshmukh was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate last November. Now he’s in CBI custody. The politician has been accused of corruption, bribery, and money laundering
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Wednesday took former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh into custody from Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail in connection with an alleged corruption case.
According to an official, Deshmukh was taken into custody by the CBI team from the Arthur Road Prison in Central Mumbai and placed under arrest.
The former minister was in the custody of the special PMLA court after being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in November last year for alleged money laundering.
What is the case against Deshmukh? And what is CBI’s role?
The case of bribery, corruption
Former Maharashtra police chief Param Bir Singh had accused Deshmukh of directing subordinate officer Sachin Waze to collect over Rs 100 crore from hotels and bars in Mumbai every month.
The case came to light after Singh sent a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on 20 March last year alleging that Deshmukh was corrupt.
The investigation
The CBI filed a first information report (FIR) against Deshmukh in April 2021, alleging corruption, bribery, and criminal conspiracy by him.
In May 2021, the ED filed a money laundering case against Deskhmukh and started a probe. The ED found that Deshmukh, while acting as the home minister, “received illegal gratification of approximately Rs 4.7 crore in cash from various orchestra bar owners” between December 2020 and February 2021 through the now-dismissed police assistant inspector Waze.
Of the money collected, Rs 4.18 crore was deposited in cash in four shell companies based in Delhi. These firms then donated the sum to Shri Sai Shikshan Sansthan Trust, a charitable trust headed by Deshmukh and his family, according to the ED investigation.
The ED has also alleged that Deshmukh’s Worli flat, registered in the name of his wife Aarti, was bought in cash in 2004. However, the sale deal was executed in February 2020 when the NCP leader was serving as the home minister.
Apart from this, the Deshmukh family acquired 50 per cent ownership in Premier Port Links Private Limited. The value of land, shops, etc in the property of this firm is about Rs 5.34 crore but the Deshmukhs paid only Rs 17.95 lakh.
During the investigation, the ED attached immovable assets worth Rs 4.20 crore belonging to Deshmukh and his family under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
The arrests
The ED, while continuing the probe against Deskhmukh arrested his personal assistant Kundan Shinde, and personal secretary Sanjeev Palande in the case.
The ED issued several summons to Deskhmukh, asking him to appear for questions, which he skipped. The former minister even moved court in August last year seeking interim relief from any coercive action of the Directorate.
However, the summons was quashed by the Bombay High Court, which asked the politician to appear before the agency. On 1 November 2021, Deshmukh appeared before the ED along with his lawyer where he was questioned for 12 hours and arrested the next day.
The CBI probe
The CBI was carrying out two investigations against the former minister. The first is the bribery case based on allegations made by Param Bir Singh. In his letter, Singh alleged that the NCP leader exercised “undue influence” over the transfer and posting of police officials. It held an alleged middleman named Santosh Shankar Jagtap in connection with this case.
The second is a probe into the alleged leak of its preliminary enquiry report on policemen being forced by Deskhumukh to collect bribes. According to the leaked document, which is the purported PE report signed by Investigating Officer Deputy SP RS Gunjiyal, no cognizable offence was made out against Deshmukh. In this case, the CBI arrested its sub-inspector Abhishek Tiwari and Deshmukh’s lawyer Anand Daga.
The I-T investigation
That’s not all. The Income Tax investigation alleged tax evasion by three educational institutions of a trust owned by the Deshmukh family. According to the tax authority, Deshmukh has concealed an income of about Rs 17 crore to evade taxes. The educational institutions have “indulged in inflation” of expenses to the tune of Rs 12 crore and the trust received “bogus donations” of Rs 4 crore through Delhi -based companies, the I-T probe found out, reports The Indian Express.
The CBI seeks custody
On Friday, the CBI was permitted to take Deshmukh’s custody along with the three other accused – Sachin Waze, Sanjeev Palande, and Kundan Shinde.
It said that the arrested might be required to be taken to the CBI headquarters in Delhi for “scientific interrogation techniques”. The CBI alleged that a target of Rs 1 crore per month was set for officers collecting bribes on behalf of Deshmukh and that disturbing facts had emerged in the case, which could not be discussed in court.
The CBI on Monday made its first arrests in the case by taking into custody Waze, Palande, and Shinde. However, as Deshmukh, who was in judicial custody after his arrest by the ED, was admitted to Mumbai’s JJ Hospital, the CBI could not take him into custody.
The JJ hospital, however, later discharged Deshmukh.
On Tuesday, the central agency had told the Special CBI Court that Deshmukh was trying to evade CBI questioning in the INR 400-crore money laundering case and that is why he was citing health reasons.
What is Deskhmukh saying now?
Deskhmukh in the past has denied all allegations against him, calling it a “witch-hunt”.
On Tuesday, he moved the Bombay high court to challenge the order of giving his custody to the CBI. Alleging “gross high handed was” by the CBI, his petition said that the agency had “in a manner alien to the settled tenets of criminal jurisprudence” filed a “totally misconceived application of his custody”.
A single-judge bench of Justice Revati Mohite Dere Wednesday recused himself from hearing Deshmukh’s plea.
With inputs from agencies
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