Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday filed a supplementary chargesheet in a money laundering case naming former state home minister Anil Deshmukh and his two sons Salil and Hrishikesh. The case stems from allegations made by former city police chief Param Bir Singh in a letter he wrote to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray in March this year after being shunted out from the post of police commissioner. Singh had levelled allegations against Deshmukh of corruption in police transfers and postings and extortion from bar and restaurant owners through then Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Vaze.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered an FIR in the matter after a direction for a preliminary inquiry by the Bombay High Court. The ED had based its probe on the CBI’s corruption case.
The ED had arrested Deshmukh in early November and the 60-day deadline for filing the chargesheet was fast approaching. In its earlier chargesheet filed in September, it had named controversial dismissed policeman Sachin Vaze as the main accused and also Deshmukh’s personal assistant Kundan Shinde and personal secretary Sanjeev Palande. A total of 14 accused were named in it, including directors of shell firms that allegedly were part of the money laundering process, chartered accountants and companies.
The agency had not named the NCP leader or his family members as accused in the previous chargesheet, but had sought permission to file supplementary chargesheets. It had said that the probe into specific roles and activities of various persons, including members of Deshmukh family, which it suspected to be involved in the offence, was likely to take time.
In its previous chargesheet, detailing the role of Deshmukh’s younger son Hrishikesh, the ED had said that he was indirectly controlling and managing the business activities of various companies and laundering money by creating a complex web of transactions. Regarding Salil Deshmukh, the ED said, he had acquired 50 percent share of a company for merely Rs. 17.5 lakhs while the firm had assets of Rs. 5.4 crore; he was thus part of the criminal conspiracy.
