ED summons Maharashtra former home minister Anil Deshmukh on July 5.
Enforcement Directorate (ED) has again issued summons to Maharashtra’s former Home Minister Anil Deshmukh to appear before it on July 05. This is a third summon by ED to Deshmukh, who has skipped earlier two summons citing reasons of ill health and insufficient documents provided by ED.
His associates Sanjeev Palande and Kundan Shinde are in ED custody till July 06. The role of the two in the operation of certain shell firms is being looked into by the ED.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Anil Deshmukh had skipped the summons of ED on June 29 also citing Covid pandemic, in connection with its probe into the allegations of the alleged bribery. He said that he was ready to join the probe through any "video or audio" medium.
Deshmukh had skipped the ED summons previously also following searches at his residence in Nagpur. He had sought more time to appear before the financial probe agency.
On June 26, the ED arrested Deshmukh's personal secretary Sanjeev Palande and personal assistant Kundan Shinde in connection with an alleged 'hafta' case. In its remand copy of the two officials of Deshmukh, the ED said that over Rs 4 crore was collected from bar owners between December 2020 and February 2021 was routed to Deshmukh's charitable trust in Nagpur, through four shell companies in Delhi.
Deshmukh (72), is facing an ED investigation on the basis of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case as the fallout of the allegations made in a letter penned by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh, who is now the Commandant-General of Home Guards.
