ED summons Maharashtra Transport Minister Anil Parab in Money Laundering Case

In the latest developments, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Shiv Sena leader and Maharashtra Transport Minister Anil Parab in connection with the money laundering case against former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh. Anil Parab has been asked to appear before the agency on August 31, Tuesday. 

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut has tweeted about the summons issued to Parab. “'Well done. As soon as the Jan Ashirwad Yatra concluded, Anil Parab has been served ED notice as expected. The central government has begun its work. The epicenter of the earthquake was Ratnagiri. Parab is the district guardian minister. Understand the chronology. Will fight legal battle legally. Jai Maharashtra,'' Raut wrote in his Twitter post.

Reacting to the summons issued to Anil Parab by the agency, BJP leader Kirit Somaiya says, “A minister from the Thackeray government will be accountable before the agency. Sachin Vaze, who used to collect Rs. 100 crore a month; among whom it was distributed, Anil Parab will have to answer the questions before the agency.”

Union minister Narayan Rane was arrested on August 24 after his statement ‘slap Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray' for what he claimed as the latter's ignorance of the year of India's independence. These remarks kicked up a huge row. The same day, a video of Shiv Sena minister Anil Parab went viral. In the video footage, he is seen ordering police officers on a cell phone to arrest Rane without delay.

After Parab’s video went viral, BJP MLA Ashish Shelar demanded a CBI inquiry into the alleged involvement of Parab in Rane’s arrest. 

Ashish Shelar in a press conference said, “There is a video clip which shows Anil Parab talking to someone around 1 pm on Tuesday about the sessions court to reject Rane’s bail plea. The application was rejected around 4 pm but Parab had informed the person on the other side much earlier. This is suspicious.”

“His action is an insult to the state judiciary as well as an act of pressuring IPS officials. The home ministry is with the NCP, and party chief Sharad Pawar had in the past complained about a Sena leader interfering in the home ministry,” said Shelar.