Former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh’s Advocate Inderpal B. Singh on Sunday said that his client has filed a plea in the Supreme Court praying that no coercive action should be taken against him.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Deshmukh for questioning on 5 July, in connection with alleged money laundering case.
On 3 July, ED had issued summons to the former Maharashtra Home Minister, asking him to appear before the agency on 5 July in connection with a money laundering case.
Earlier, Deshmukh wrote to the ED expressing his inability to appear in person before the probe agency in connection with the case, citing the Covid-19 pandemic. The NCP leader asked the ED to record his statement through an “audio/visual” mode of their choice.
The request, however, has been dismissed by the ED as the agency feels that an accused cannot dictate terms to the investigating officer in a case.
The ED, which arrested Deshmukh’s private secretary Sanjeev Palande and private assistant Kundan Shinde, in its remand application said that more than Rs 4 crore, collected from bar owners between December 2020 and February 2021 was routed to Deshmukh’s charitable trust in Nagpur through four shell companies in Delhi.
The agency’s probe into Deshmukh’s financial transactions is in line with the CBI probe into former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh’s allegations of corruption against the NCP leader. Deshmukh has denied the allegations.