Deshmukh moves HC for bail, says ED case against him 'false and frivolous'

Maharashtra's former home minister Anil Deshmukh has approached the Bombay High Court seeking bail in connection with a money laundering case being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Deshmukh was arrested by the ED on November 2, 2021, and is currently in jail under judicial custody. The 71-year-old NCP leader filed a petition in the HC after a special court rejected his bail plea earlier this month. Deshmukh, in his bail plea filed in the HC through advocates Aniket Nikam and Inderpal Singh on Tuesday, has said he was implicated by the ED in a "false and frivolous" case and that the central agency was misusing its authority. The former minister, who resigned from the state cabinet in April last year, refuted the charges of money laundering and said all alleged transactions cited by the ED in the case were documented.

Deshmukh's bail plea is likely to be heard by a single bench of the HC on Friday. The special court, designated to hear cases related to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), while refusing bail to Deshmukh, had noted that there was evidence to show that the NCP leader was actively involved in money laundering. The ED's case is that while serving as state home minister, Deshmukh misused his official position and through Sachin Waze, a police officer who has been dismissed from service after his arrest in the 'Antilia' bomb scare and Mansukh Hiran killing case last year, collected Rs 4.70 crore from various bars in Mumbai.

The money was laundered to Nagpur-based Shri Sai Shikshan Sansthan, an educational trust controlled by the Deshmukh family, the central agency has alleged.