Mumbai: Former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh on Monday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office for the multi-agencies probe into the allegations of extortion and corruption hurled against him by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh.
The development assumes significance in the wake of the Central Bureau of Investigation having nabbed a middleman Santosh Jagtap from Thane, who was an alleged conduit in the corruption deals and for evading arrest.
Read: Maharashtra govt using police like mafia: BJP leader
"I respect the courts... I have voluntarily decided to come to the ED for the probe. But I want to ask where is Param Bir Singh who levelled the false allegations against me," said Deshmukh in a video made before he went to the central agency accompanied by his lawyer.
A senior Nationalist Congress Party leader, Deshmukh came under the radar of investigation agencies post-Singh's letter to the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray alleging that the former Maharashtra HM had set a Rs 100-crore collection target for the former dismissed cop, Sachin Vaze.
Read: Extortion case: Mumbai court issues non-bailable warrant against Param Bir Singh
