Ex-Minister Anil Deshmukh ducks Enforcement Directorate date thrice

While moving the Supreme Court for protection against coercive action by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the embattled ex-Home Minister of Maharashtra Anil Deshmukh skipped an ED summons for the third time in a week, this time, accusing the central agency that its probe against him was 'not transparent', here on Monday.

In a letter ot ED Mumbai Assistant Director Tassine Sultan, Deshmukh said that he had devoted his entire life to public service and would not hesitate to render any assistance that may be required in the conduct of the ongoing investigations.

"However, a series of events have given rise to a bonafide apprehension in my mind that neither the procedure of law is being followed nor any objective, impartial or transparent investigations are being carried out," the 72-year-old senior Nationalist Congress Party leader said in his 8-pager missive.

Deshmukh said that he has moved a petition in the Supreme Court which would be listed in a few days and the ED to wait until its outcome in the apex court.

"I am sanguine that your good self will in fact dispel the impression of any bias or prejudice that has accumulated in my mind by carrying out investigations in a more transparent and objective manner. I am only taking recourse to my legal remedies in view of the peculiarities of the circumstances," he said.

This is the third time in barely a week that Deshmukh -- who was raided by the ED on June 25, and at least 2 of his close aides were arrested -- has spurned the ED summons to join the probe.

While Deshmukh was summoned today, his son Hrishikesh has been summoned on Tuesday, July 6 for the probe into the alleged money-laundering charges after a complaint by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh, after he was transferred from the post.

Among other things, Singh -- now the Commandant-General of Home Guards -- made the sensational claims that the ex-minister had allegedly given a target of Rs.100-crore per month collection to the now-dismissed Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Vaze.

--IANS

qn/in