Upon a plea of the CBI, a special CBI court on Thursday issued a letter to two other special courts for the transfer of custody of former state home minister Anil Deshmukh, his personal secretary Sanjeev Palande, personal assistant Kundan Shinde and dismissed policeman Sachin Vaze to the custody of the agency’s IO probing the corruption case against the NCP leader.
Deshmukh, Palande and Shinde are in custody of a special court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the money laundering case concerning Deshmukh. The case had arisen from the CBI’s corruption case. Vaze, on the other hand, though a key accused in the money laundering case, is in custody of another special court designated under the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act in the Antilia security scare case.
The CBI approached the special court seeking that it make a request to the two respective special courts for the transfer of the custody of the four to the custody of Mukesh Kumar, a deputy superintendent of Police in New Delhi for the purpose of investigation in the corruption case lodged against Deshmukh. The CBI court recorded that it heard the officer, the prosecutor for the CBI and perused the FIR lodged by the agency in April last year. It then went on to permit the agency’s request and issue request letters to the two other courts.
The corruption case was lodged after the CBI conducted a preliminary inquiry on the Bombay HC’s directions. The case arose from a letter written by the then city police chief Param Bir Singh to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray making serious corruption and extortion allegations against Deshmukh. Singh had alleged the minister instructed Vaze, then heading the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) of the city police, to make regular collections from bars and restaurants in the city during the pandemic-induced restrictions, in exchange for operating beyond restricted hours.
