HC grants ED custody of Anil Deshmukh till November 12

The vacation bench of the Bombay high court on Sunday granted the Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody of former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh till November 12 in the money laundering case.

The ED moved the HC on Saturday night after the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court refused additional custody of Deshmukh to ED and sent him to 14-day judicial custody.

ED argued before the single judge bench of justice Madhav Jamdar that the money laundering case probe was at a crucial stage and refusal to extend Deshmukh’s custody will hamper the entire investigation.

Senior advocate Vikram Chaudhri and advocate Aniket Nikam, representing Deshmukh, said they were not opposing ED’s application and were willing to cooperate since the day the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader visited ED’s office on November 2 and was subsequently arrested after 12 hours of interrogation.

After hearing the submissions, justice Jamdar granted custody of Deshmukh to ED till November 12.

Deshmukh has been arrested by ED in connection with a CBI investigation into allegations by former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh that the former home minister had been running an extortion racket in the Metropolis with help from police officers, who he had allegedly instructed to collect ₹100 crore from bars and restaurants every month.

The ED has claimed that Deshmukh received ₹4.7 crore from dismissed police officer Sachin Vaze and the money had been collected from various bars and restaurants. The agency has further claimed that Deshmukh laundered the amount through a shell company based in Delhi and had received the amount in Shree Sai Shikshan Sanstha, a trust owned by his family.