Challenged in court against summons sent by ED, transactions with hawala operators were shown as donation
New Delhi, July 30 (IANS)| The Supreme Court on Friday granted no protection from arrest to former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on a plea seeking protection from any alleged coercive action in the money laundering case registered against him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Justice A. M. Khanwilkar has fixed the matter for hearing on August 3. List this petition along with the concerned matters on August 3, so that the same order may be passed in all the matters, the bench said.
The ED had issued summons to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Deshmukh and his son Hrishikesh Deshmukh to appear. Deshmukh, who had set aside the previous summons given by the agency, had challenged these summons in a petition in the apex court and sought protection for both himself and his son. Former Maharashtra Home Minister Deshmukh and his son Rishikesh had moved the Supreme Court seeking relief after the Enforcement Directorate received third summons in the money laundering case. The petition demanded from the court that any coercive action against him should be stayed. However, the court has refused to grant him any relief for the time being.
Deshmukh has been charged with extortion and money laundering from a group of Mumbai orchestra bars, and the matter is being probed by the ED. It is alleged that Rs 4.7 crore was collected as extortion from the orchestra bar by sacked Mumbai Police officer Sachin Waje, allegedly on the instructions of Deshmukh. Later, the amount was transferred to Deshmukh’s Nagpur-based educational trust by his son, Rishikesh. As per the allegation, the transaction was done through two hawala operators and was shown as donation.
The 71-year-old NCP leader is the chairman of the trust and has two sons Salil and Rishikesh as trustees. On May 11, a case was registered against the former minister and on June 25, the ED raided Deshmukh’s residences in Nagpur, Mumbai and three other places. In this case, in April, the CBI had raided four premises of Deshmukh by registering an FIR against him. Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh, in his letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, alleged that Deshmukh asked Waje to collect Rs 100 crore every month from various bars and restaurants in Mumbai.
Earlier this week, the apex court had adjourned the matter till Friday and asked Deshmukh’s legal counsel to provide a copy of the petition to the ED and the Maharashtra government.
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