CBI raids premises linked to Deshmukh
Establishing “prime facie evidence” against him, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh for corruption and criminal conspiracy a month after former Mumbai police chief Param Bir Singh accused him of running an extortion racket in the city, people familiar with the developments said on Saturday.
The agency, as part of its formal probe, will investigate Deshmukh’s role in allegedly using the Mumbai Police for extortion from bars, hotels and restaurants as accused by former police commissioner Param Bir Singh, handing over all important cases to suspended assistant police inspector Sachin Vaze, and influencing transfers and postings in the department.
Singh wrote a letter to Maharashtra
chief minister Uddhav Thackeray in March and alleged Deshmukh asked Vaze to collect ₹100 crore monthly from bars, restaurants, hotels, and other sources in Mumbai. The letter was written after Singh was transferred for allegedly mismanaging an explosives scare outside industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s house in February. Vaze has been arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with the discovery of the explosives in a car outside
Ambani’s residence and the alleged murder of a businessman, Mansukh Hiran, linked to the vehicle.
Four personal protective equipment-clad teams of CBI on Saturday carried out raids for 12 hours from 6am at Deshmukh’s two personal residences – one in Nagpur and another in Mumbai — his official residence in Mumbai and his personal assistant Sanjeev Palande’s premises.
Deshmukh was present at his Nagpur residence when a CBI team was seizing his digital devices and documents while his daughter and son were present at his two residences in Mumbai respectively.
An officer who didn’t want to be named said Deshmukh will be called for questioning very soon.
Deshmukh has been named an accused along with “unknown others” in CBI’s First Information Report (FIR), registered on April 21 on the completion of its preliminary enquiry, which revealed that the then minister indeed attempted to obtain undue advantage using his position, according to the agency.