Summoned by ED, ex-minister Anil Deshmukh seeks fresh date for appearance

Former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh has sought a fresh date for appearance before the Enforcement Directorate ED which had summoned him for questioning on Saturday in a money laundering case related to an alleged multicrore briberycumextortion racket that led to his resignation in April officials saidThe 71yearold Nationalist Congress Party NCP leader was asked to depose before the investigating officer at the agency office in Ballard Estate here by 11 am they saidA team of Deshmukhs lawyers visited the ED office and sought a fresh date for appearance officials said adding that the agency is expected to accept his requestThe central agency had arrested his personal secretary Sanjeev Palande and personal assistant Kundan Shinde late last night after it carried out raids against them and Deshmukh in Mumbai and NagpurThe aides were brought to the ED office for questioning following the searches and arrested subsequentlyThey will be produced before a special court for cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act PMLA in Mumbai on Saturday where the ED will seek their remand for custodial interrogation officials saidThe ED case against Deshmukh and others was made out after the CBI first carried out a preliminary inquiry followed by a regular case being filed on the orders of the Bombay High CourtThe court had asked the Central Bureau of Investigation CBI to look into the allegations of bribery made against Deshmukh by former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir SinghDeshmukh who had resigned from his post in April following the allegations has denied any wrongdoingSenior Indian Police Service IPS officer Singh was shunted out from his post after investigators revealed the role of assistant police inspector Sachin Waze in the stationing of an explosiveladen SUV near industrialist Mukesh Ambanis Mumbai residence that triggered a terror scareWaze has since been dismissed from serviceIn his letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray after he was removed from the police commissioners post Singh had alleged that Deshmukh had asked Waze to extort over Rs 100 crore a month from bars and restaurants in MumbaiAccording to the ED about 10 bar owners in Mumbai recorded statements before it alleging that they had paid about Rs 4 crore bribe in cash in a threemonth period to be handed over to Deshmukh through police officialsDeshmukh was the home minister in the Shiv SenaNCPCongress Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra headed by ThackerayIn his letter Singh also alleged that Palande was present when Deshmukh had asked Waze to extort moneyPalande and Shinde had been questioned by the CBI in the pastThe role of the two in the operation of certain shell firms is being looked into by the EDThe CBI booked Deshmukh and others under the Indian Penal Code IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy and the section of the Prevention of Corruption Act for attempt to obtain undue advantage for improper and dishonest performance of public dutyThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever