ED attaches Rs 4-crore worth assets in PMLA case against former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh

Anil Deshmukh. File Pic

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth about Rs 4 crore in connection with its money laundering case against former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh and others, officials said on Friday.

The assets -- attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) -- are held in the name of Deshmukh's wife Aarti Deshmukh and a company, Premier Port Links Pvt. Ltd.

They include a residential flat in Worli worth Rs 1.54-crore, 25 land parcels worth Rs 2.67-crore at the Dhutum village in Raigad district, adjoining Mumbai. The action comes as part of the probe into money-laundering lodged against them.

They said a provisional attachment order has been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Deshmukh, 72, has skipped at least three Enforcement Directorate (ED) summons for questioning.

Also Read: Anil Deshmukh feels ED's investigation against him unjustified, hence not joining probe: Lawyer

His son Hrishikesh and wife were also summoned by the federal probe agency but they too refused to depose.

The summons were issued in connection with the criminal case registered under the PMLA related to an alleged Rs 100 crore bribery-cum-extortion racket in the Maharashtra police establishment that led to Deshmukh's resignation in April this year.

Deshmukh, an NCP leader, has denied any wrongdoing, his lawyers have called the ED action against him unjustified, and the ex-minister recently approached the Supreme Court with a petition seeking protection from any coercive action by the ED.

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