Not Param Bir, Vazegate or HC? NCP's Sharad Pawar pins ED & CBI's Deshmukh probe on 'them'

After the Enforcement Directorate carried out searches at the house of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Anil Deshmukh on Friday morning, party supremo Sharad Pawar who is presently in Pune, came forward to hurl accusations at the Central government, which as per him is behind the entire episode. Pointing out that the BJP-led government at the Centre has started this 'new trend' of threatening with agencies like the ED and the CBI, he affirmed that he and his party members are 'not scared'. 

It is to be noted that when the initial allegation against Anil Deshmukh had been made, the reason it had forced Pawar into issuing two back-to-back press conferences was that the charges had been made by none other than Param Bir Singh, the former Mumbai CP who had operated under Deshmukh. The claim, as Pawar would remember, was that Deshmukh had allegedly set Sachin Vaze a Rs 100 crore per month extortion target, and it was the Bombay High Court that had ordered a CBI probe, while the MVA government had only asked a retired judge to probe the matter with a 6-month deadline.

"We are not threatened by ED action on Anil Deshmukh. They (the leaders of the central government) have started a new trend to threaten with agencies like CBI & ED," claimed Sharad Pawar, perhaps not taking into account that the search at the house of Deshmukh was conducted on the basis of an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act by the Central agency in the month of May. The ECIR is based on the corruption case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation against Deshmukh in April. The entire matter also has its foundations in the horrific and shocking Vazegate episode, which include the planting of a gelatin sticks-laden car near Mukesh Ambani's Antilia residence, the murder of the original owner of the car, purported extortion being run from the Mumbai Police HQ and other mindbending crimes, including the fact that such cases were being given to their own perpetrators to investigate.

Charges against Anil Deshmukh

It all started on March 17, when Param Bir Singh was removed from his position as the Mumbai Police Commissioner and shunted to a "low-key" position as Commandant General, Home Guards, for allegedly mishandling the investigation into an explosive-laden vehicle found near Mukesh Ambani’s residence, Antilia in February, in which Sachin Vaze has been arrested by NIA. This ouster had been followed by Anil Deshmukh, then still Maharashtra Home Minister, telling a Marathi channel that Param Bir's exit had not been procedural, seemingly throwing his former reportee to the sharks.

Three days after his removal, Param Bir wrote a letter to Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, refuting allegations leveled against him, and instead accusing Deshmukh of asking the disgraced former Mumbai cop Sachin Vaze to collect Rs 100 crore per month from bars, hotels, and restaurants in the city - an allegation denied by both the minister and his Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) till the High Court ordered directed the CBI to conduct a preliminary inquiry. Thereafter, he stepped down as the Home Minister 'on moral grounds' and was replaced by Dilip Walse Patil.

However, before Deshmukh resigned, Sharad Pawar had held a garden press briefing in Delhi on two consecutive days where he had attempted to give an alibi to Deshmukh over the latter's February battle against COVID. This defence ended up backfiring in a number of ways, countered by Deshmukh's own tweets from the time, as well as a VVIP charter plane manifest that showed that the minister had potentially risked at least 6 other passengers by travelling well before his prescribed quarantine had ended.

On April 21, the CBI registered an FIR against the NCP leader and unknown individuals under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 120 B of the Indian Penal Code. According to the FIR, the former Maharashtra Home Minister was aware that suspended Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Vaze was entrusted with most of the sensational and important cases of Mumbai. It has accused him and others of exercising influence over the transfer and posting of officials and thereby exercising 'undue influence' over the performance of official duties by the officials. Based on the FIR, the ED on May 11, filed a case of money laundering against him. 

(Credit-ANI)