Mumbai:Former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh has sought more time from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after the investigating agency summoned him for questioning today in a money laundering case related to an alleged multi-crore bribery-cum-extortion racket that led to his resignation in April, media houses reported. The 71-year-old Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader was asked to depose before the investigating officer of the case at the agency office in the Ballard Estate area here by 11 am, they said.
The central agency had Friday night arrested his personal secretary Sanjeev Palande and personal assistant Kundan Shinde after it carried out raids against them and Deshmukh in Mumbai and Nagpur. The aides were brought to the ED office for questioning following the searches and arrested subsequently. They 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 said. The 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 Court.
Read: ED arrests Anil Deshmukh's personal assistant, secretary in money laundering case
The court had asked the agency to look into the allegations of bribery made against Deshmukh by former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh. Deshmukh, who had resigned from his post in April following the allegations, has denied any wrongdoing. Police officer Singh was shunted out from his post after the role of assistant police inspector Sachin Waze, who has since been dismissed from service, surfaced during the investigation into an explosive-laden SUV that was found parked near industrialist Mukesh Ambani's house in Mumbai.