Anil Deshmukh sent to ED's custody till Nov 6; Ex-Maha HM allowed home food & medicines

In a big development, a Mumbai court on Tuesday sent former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh to the Enforcement Directorate's custody till November 6. The ED had produced the ex-Maharashtra Home Minister before a special holiday court after his arrest following a marathon grilling on Monday night. The agency had sought his custody for 14 days in connection with the money laundering case.

While arguing in the court, Anil Deshmukh's lawyer highlighted that the ED had submitted both in the Bombay High Court and Supreme Court that his client was not named as an accused in the money laundering case. "Bombay High Court had asked CBI to investigate. No one asked you (ED) to investigate. You came on your own," Deshmukh's counsel Vikram Chaudhary said. 

On the other hand, ASG Anil Singh, representing ED, said that the agency had strong evidence against the former Home Minister. After hearing the arguments, the court decided to remand Deshmukh to ED's custody for 4 days. The court also accepted an application filed by Anil Deshmukh’s counsel to allow the presence of a lawyer while interrogation. Another application for home food and medicines has also been allowed for the 72-year-old.

Details of the remand application 

In its remand application, the ED mentioned that 3 PILs were filed before the Bombay HC levelling allegations of corruption primarily against Anil Deshmukh. The agency revealed that in the course of the investigation, they had found out that there are 13 companies controlled by Deshmukh's family and another 14 controlled by his associates which have been utilized for the purpose of infusion of 'ill-gotten' money of Anil Deshmukh. 

"Assets of these companies were being used by Deshmukhs for their personal purpose with impunity thereby fostering the belief that these entities have been created by Deshmukhs for Deshmkukhs," the remand plea read. It further added that one such company controlled by the family had raised bogus share capital from 18 Kolkata based shell companies. 

The agency also noted that the ex-Maharashtra HM was also 'directly involved' in the offence of money laundering. "The allegation of collection of Rs 100 crores has been made in this case. Entire money trail requires to be established in order to bring out the guilty to the book," it said. 

ED arrests Anil Deshmukh

Former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh was arrested by the ED after being questioned for over 12 hours on Monday in connection with a money laundering case. As per sources, the NCP leader was not cooperating and was being evasive in his replies to the central agency. He has been arrested under Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, sources told Republic. Earlier on July 26, the ED arrested his personal secretary Sanjeev Palande and his personal assistant Kundan Shinde who were remanded to custody.

The trouble for Anil Deshmukh started on March 20 when former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh levelled 'extortion' charges against him. In a letter addressed to Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, Singh alleged that the NCP leader had asked Sachin Vaze to extort Rs.100 crore per month from 1750 bars, restaurants, and other establishments in Mumbai. After the Bombay High Court directed the CBI to carry out a preliminary enquiry into these allegations, Deshmukh resigned as the Home Minister was replaced by Dilip Walse Patil. The ED subsequently filed its own case in the matter.