ED probe finds 10 Mumbai bar owners allegedly paid Rs 4 crore to Anil Deshmukh for 3 months: Report
Anil Deshmukh resigned as the home minister on April 5 after the Bombay High Court ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe the graft charges against him.
June 25, 2021 / 03:43 PM IST
File image of former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh (Image: ANI)
An ongoing probe by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has revealed that 10 bar owners in Mumbai allegedly paid Rs 4 crore to Maharashtra's former home minister Anil Deshmukh for three months, a report citing the agency sources claimed on June 25.
ED sources who spoke to The Indian Express claimed that the money trail of Rs 4 crore, that was allegedly paid to Deshmukh during his tenure as the minister, has been established. The agency, however, was yet to issue an official statement.
The newspaper claimed that the probing officials have launched fresh searches at Deshmukh's Nagpur residence and three other locations, based on the new findings.
The premises of Deshmukh’s personal assistant Kundan Shinde and personal secretary Sanjeev Palande are also being searched in Mumbai to find evidence related to the alleged cash payments by the bar owners, the report added.
The ED has reportedly recorded the statements of 10 bar owners as part of their probe against the former state home minister.
Deshmukh, a senior leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), resigned as the home minister on April 5 after the Bombay High Court ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the graft charges against him.
The controversy erupted after former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh wrote to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on March 20, accusing Deshmukh of giving inspector Sachin Waze a target to collect "Rs 100 crore per month".
"For achieving the aforesaid target, the Home Minister told Waze that there are about 1,750 bars, restaurants and other establishments in Mumbai and if a sum of Rs 2-3 lakh each was collected from each of them, a monthly collection of Rs 40-50 crore was achievable. The Home Minister added that the rest of the collection could be made from other sources,” news agency ANI quoted Singh's letter as stating.
