ED raids 2 properties of Anil Deshmukh in Nagpur in corruption case

Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Sunday morning raided former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh’s ancestral house in Wadvihira and Katol in Nagpur district in connection with the ₹100 crore extortion case.

The Central investigative agency, a couple of days ago, had provisionally attached the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader’s assets worth ₹4.20 crores in a money laundering case.

Around 7am on Sunday morning, six ED sleuths accompanied by a team of armed Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) reached Deskhmukh’s two houses and started a search operation, which is still continuing at the time of the writing of this report. The houses have been cordoned off by the CRPF.

Two days ago on Friday, one residential flat owned by Deshmukh in Mumbai’s Worli, valued at ₹1.54 crore, and 25 land parcels in Dhutum villages in Raigarh district of Maharashtra, book value ₹2.67 crore, were attached by the ED. The agency then also issued summons to his wife Aarati Deshmukh for questioning.

Former Mumbai police commissioner Parambir Singh had alleged that as a minister in the Maharashtra government, Deshmukh had asked suspended police officer Sachin Vaze and few others to extort ₹100 crore every month from bars and restaurants in Mumbai.

Following the allegations, the Bombay high court ordered a preliminary enquiry by the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation). The agency later registered an FIR against Deshmukh in April this year. The ED, which was also invited to join the probe, last month arrested Anil Deshmukh’s PA Kundan Shinde and PS Sanjeev Palande, and also summoned Deshmukh and his family members.

People aware of the developments said that Deshmukh or his close relatives were not present in the houses at Katol and Wadvihira, which were being raided on Sunday. The ED had also raided his Civil Lines residence here last month and interrogated his wife Aarati and son Rishi.

The fresh raids come close on the heels of NCP supremo Sharad Pawar meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Saturday.