[Money Laundering case] Anil Deshmukh remanded to ED custody till November 6 by Mumbai court

A Mumbai court has remanded former Home Minister of Maharashtra Anil Deshmukh to Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody till November 6, 2021 in the money laundering case against him..Deshmukh was arrested by the ED during the early hours of Tuesday after a 12-hour-long interrogation. He was produced before Additional Sessions Judge PB Jadhav for remand by 12 noon after a medical examination from JJ Hospital.Judge Jadhav after hearing the parties granted Deshmukh's custody to ED. .ED had initiated probe against Deshmukh and his associates after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a first information report (FIR) following a court-directed enquiry into allegations of corruption and misuse of his official position.It was ED's case that while Deshmukh was the Home Minister, he misused his position by directing dismissed Mumbai cop Sachin Waze to collect money to the tune of ₹4.7 crore from various restaurants and bars in Mumbai.It was claimed that Deshmukh had laundered the extorted money to a Nagpur-based trust which was controlled by his family members..ED issued five summons to Deshmukh, to which he responded seeking permission to attend the questioning through his authorised representatives. Deshmukh had not complied with any of the summons.Simultaneously, Deshmukh challenged the summons before the Bombay High Court who dismissed his petition on Friday directing him to take appropriate steps to approach the Courts for anticipatory bail. .Deshmukh appeared before the ED officials on Monday. After interrogation for about 12 hours, Deshmukh was arrested post midnight on Tuesday..Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh along with Advocate Shreeram Shirsat appearing for ED before the Additional Sessions Judge, sought 14 days custody of Deshmukh. Singh submitted to the Court that based on an analysis of balance sheets and bank account statements of the Trust and companies owned by Deshmukh's family, it seemed to indicate that some of the entries have no actual business and are only being used for rotation of funds probably to create a layer for rotation of funds..Deshmukh by virtue of being Home Minister received amounts to the tune of approx 4.70 crores collected from bars, ED's application stated. Their primary contention was that the bribe money was used by Deshmukh through his son for providing cash to the Delhi-based paper company and after laundering, the same was routed to Sai Shikshan Sanstha (Trust) under the garb of donation..The application stated that "Deshmukh was arrested on November 2, 2011 for being guilty of the offence punishableble under PMLA Act". Since Deshmukh had "directly involved himself in the offence of money laundering" and based on the investigation conducted so far, ED submitted that "custodial interrogation is the need of the hour in the interest of on-going investigation"..In conclusion of his submission Singh submitted that the allegations in the present case was a collection of around Rs. 100 crores. "Entire money trail requires to be established in order to bring the guilty to the book. The involvement of a foreign angle also cannot be ruled out at this stage." he stated from the plea..Senior Advocate Vikram Chaudhari with Advocate Aniket Nikam appearing for Deshmukh, opposed the remand. He further argued that up until the High Court hearings were going on, Deshmukh was considered to be only a "suspect", and some question or evidence during the interrogation apparently led to his arrest.Chaudhari mused as to what material changes could have happened during the investigation in the last two days which compelled ED to arrest Deshmukh.Additionally Chaudhari also pointed out about the pending petition before the Supreme Court where Deshmukh had not only assailed the ED proceedings but also the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).He stated that if even the highest court has a petition pending, the agency's present prayer should be rejected.He also pointed out to the medical condition of Deshmukh - that he had a heart ailment, and had recently recovered from COVID..After hearing the counsel, Judge Jadhav remanded Deshmukh to ED custody till Saturday.