Money Laundering Case: ED submits charge sheet against former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.
Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials today submitted a charge sheet against former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh in a money-laundering case. The ED is probing allegations against Deshmukh that he had allegedly asked former Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Vaze to extort 100 crore rupees a month from bars and restaurants across Mumbai. ED officials found that 4.7 crore rupees were handed over by the dismissed API after extorting bars and restaurants in Mumbai.
The charge sheet is said to be over 6,000 pages and Deshmukh has been named as prime accused. His sons Hrishikesh and Salil have also been named as accused in the money-laundering case.
Deshmukh was arrested by ED on the 2nd of November and he remains in judicial custody at the Arthur Road prison in Mumbai. This is the second charge sheet in the case. The first charge sheet was filed in August against Deshmukh’s Personal Secretary Sanjeev Palande and Personal Assistant Kundan Shinde. Deshmukh’s family-run educational trust named Shri Sai Shikshan Sanstha was also named in the first charge sheet.
The agency is also probing matters related to transfers and postings for Indian and State Police Service Officers. Vaze’s statement was recorded twice by ED officials in the case. The allegation was levelled by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh who had written to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on the 20th of March. Following this, petitions were filed in the Bombay High Court to seek a CBI investigation against Deshmukh. The High Court then ordered a CBI inquiry that culminated in an FIR being filed against Deshmukh.
