The Case Against Anil Deshmukh: Here's What We Know So Far

Mumbai: After seven months of dodging the Enforcement Directorate and missing five summons for interrogation, former Maharashtra state home minister Anil Deshmukh was arrested by the agency on November 2. Deshmukh, who had to step down from his post following the Rs 100-crore extortion and money laundering allegations, has been sent to ED custody till November 6.

On November 1, Deshmukh had finally turned up before the ED for questioning. After grilling him for over 12 hours, the ED arrested Deshmukh a little after midnight.

In the remand application, the central agency has made several claims against Deshmukh, including that he floated dummy companies, extorted money from hotel establishments in Mumbai and used his family and friends as fronts to divert money.

The ED had conducted raids in several parts of Maharashtra, Delhi and West Bengal and claims to have recorded several witnesses’s statements which directly point at Deshmukh’s involvement in the money laundering case. He is the “prime beneficiary of the proceeds of crime,” the ED has alleged.

The central agency yesterday, November 2, told the court that they are also looking for “international links” in the case. Deshmukh has been booked under several sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and is the 15th person to be arrested in the case. A charge sheet has already been filed against the rest, including Deshmukh’s two personal assistants.

Deshmukh and the Maha Vikas Aghadi leaders have, since the start, maintained that this case is “politically motivated”. But the ED has called him an “important cog in the wheel” and “a prime beneficiary of the proceeds of crime”. 

The ED’s involvement came in following a preliminary enquiry (PE) initiated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in April this year. The then Mumbai commissioner Parambir Singh has sent out a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray claiming that Deshmukh had been using his subordinate officer Sachin Waze to extort money from different hotel owners across the city.

Also read: Sachin Waze Planned Antilia Bomb Scare to Reestablish Himself as a ‘Supercop’: NIA Chargesheet

Waze is already in the National Investigating Agency’s custody in relation to the bomb scare incident outside billionaire businessman Mukesh Ambani’s residence in south Mumbai. Singh has since been absconding and several political leaders in the government, including home minister Dilip Walse Patil, have hinted that he has fled to a European country.

Singh too has been facing several charges, including one registered under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The ED had listed 13 companies directly controlled by Deshmukh and his family members and 14 other companies that are owned by Deshmukhs’s close associates, but which it claims are virtually controlled by Deshumkh. These companies, the ED has claimed, were utilised for the purpose of Deshmukh’s “infusion of ill-gotten money”. The ED has accused Deshmukh of controlling money flow from companies indirectly controlled by Deshmukh to companies directly controlled by him and vice versa.

“The balance sheets and bank statements indicate most of these entries have no actual business and were only being used for rotation of money,” the agency has claimed.   

Also read: Leaked CBI Report Giving Clean Chit to Anil Deshmukh Is Genuine: NCP

The ED has also levelled allegations against Deshmukh’s son Hrishikesh, claiming that he had contacted two men – Surendra Jain and Virendra Jain – to donate money for the educational trust, Shri Sai Shikshan Sansthan, run by the Deshmukhs. Both Jains have already been questioned by the ED.

Similarly, the ED, in the remand application, has claimed that Deshmukh’s business associate, Snehal Patel, has told them that “unsecure loans” were procured to run a warehousing company that Patel was a director of. Patel, involved in companies M/S Rabia Logistics, and M/S Blackstone Logistics, however, has claimed that he had only invested Rs 6 crores. The agency claimed many such dummy persons were propped up to divert funds into Deshmukh’s company accounts.

Deshmukh’s chartered accountant and also a business associate, Kishore Dewani, was also questioned by the ED and his statement was recorded on June 8. Dewani, the ED says, was also associated with Deshmukh in a warehouse company and had invested Rs 2 crores. Deshmukh had invested an additional Rs 2 crores. This company too took an “unsecure loan” of Rs 72 lakhs, without an agreement, the ED has claimed in its remand.

Another business associate of the family, Samit Isaac, is accused of purchasing a company of asset value Rs 4.75 crore at mere Rs 3.75 lakhs and within a short span of time, selling it again for Rs 4.75 crores. This was done even when Isaac did not have any liabilities, the ED states. A piece of land worth Rs 30 lakh was purchased for Rs. 3.75 lakhs.

Also read: CBI Arrests Agency’s Sub-Inspector for Taking ‘Illegal Gratification’, Detains Anil Deshmukh’s Lawyer

“These entities were allegedly a mere vehicle for benami transactions,” the ED has claimed. These businessmen were used as “dummy directors” for rotation of funds, the ED has alleged.

Deshmukh was represented in court by Vikram Chaudhari and Aniket Nikam. They maintained that Deshmukh had never absconded and had made use of only his legal remedies before appearing before the ED. Chaudhari argued, “The person (Parambir Singh) who has levelled allegations against Deshmukh is himself absconding.”

The ED had until recently maintained that Deshmukh is not an accused. But when he finally turned up at the ED office for questioning, he was arrested.

Deshmukh, who is 70, and had recently recovered from COVID-19, moved an application through his lawyers for home-cooked food. His application was allowed. Deshmukh’s lawyers have also been granted permission to be available when he is questioned by the ED sleuths while in custody.