Money laundering case: PMLA court denies NCP leader Anil Deshmukh's bail plea
The court denial comes just days after the same court rejected Deshmukh's appeal for a default bail.
FollowA special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court rejected the bail plea of former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh in the money laundering case on Monday. The court denial comes just days after the same court rejected Deshmukh's appeal for a default bail.
Earlier in the day, the Nationalist Congress Party leader Anil Deshmukh and suspended cop Sachin Vaze appeared before the Chandimal Commission, appointed by the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government to probe ex-Mumbai top cop Param Bir Singh's allegations of corruption against the NCP leader.
On March 20, 2021, Param Bir Singh wrote a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, days after his removal as the Mumbai Police Commissioner. In the letter, Singh accused Deshmukh of leading Sachin Vaze to collect Rs 100 money from bars and restaurants in Mumbai every month.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), on April 21, 2021, reported a case against Deshmukh on the grounds of Singh's charges. Later, the Enforcement Directorate registered a money laundering case against Deshmukh, his son and others.
While in the interrogation, Vaze claimed he called the bar's owners on Deshmukh's instruction. Between December 2020 and February 2021, he collected Rs 4.7 crore from the owners of the orchestra bars to avoid police interference. As per ED, Vaze claimed he handed over that money to Deshmukh's PA, Kundan Shinde.
The ED claimed that the extorted money was sent to Delhi-based Jain brothers, who allegedly ran bogus companies using hawala channels and reportedly diverted this money as donations to Nagpur-based Shri Sai Shikshan Sansthan, an educational trust controlled by the Deshmukh. Deshmukh was arrested on November 2 after more than 12 hours of grilling at the ED office in Mumbai.
Deshmukh's bail was denied two days after the CBI interrogated Mumbai police commissioner Sanjay Pandey for six hours in connection with the case against him. Pandey allegedly asked Param Bir Singh to drop the charges against him in a leaked WhatsApp conversation.
The central probe agency believes that the Mumbai top cop was acting at the request of the MVA government to weaken the corruption case against Deshmukh.
