Corruption case: CBI arrests Deshmukh’s legal team member

DAGA WAS TAKEN TO DELHI, WHERE HE WILL BE PRODUCED IN A COURT, AN AGENCY SPOKESPERSON SAID ON THURSDAY

MUMBAI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday arrested Anand Daga, a member of former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh’s legal team, after daylong questioning for allegedly trying to influence the agency’s probe into the corruption charges against his client.

Daga was taken to Delhi, where he will be produced in a court along with CBI sub-inspector Abhishek Tiwari, who was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly leaking the agency’s preliminary inquiry report into the corruption allegations.

“Advocate (Daga) also arrested; has been brought to Delhi on transit remand. Both arrested persons will be produced before a competent court,” said CBI spokesperson RC Joshi.

CBI on Wednesday registered a case after the contents of the agency’s probe report appeared in a section of the media. It arrested Tiwari over the alleged leak and conducted searches at his residence and office.

Tiwari is also suspected to have accepted a bribe from Deshmukh’s team for purportedly manipulating the report.

The central agency on Wednesday questioned Deshmukh’s son-in-law, but he was later let off. But Daga was detained for questioning and eventually arrested. The agency suspects Daga tried to scuttle the inquiry through a junior ranked CBI officer, said an official with the federal agency.

CBI conducted the preliminary inquiry against Deshmukh, a senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader, following a Bombay high court order in April.

The probe was ordered after former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh accused Deshmukh of corruption. In a letter to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on March 20, Singh alleged that Deshmukh directed certain Mumbai police officers to collect ₹100 crore monthly from hotel and bar owners. The CBI booked Deshmukh on April 21 after the preliminary inquiry, saying it found substance in the allegations. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) also registered a money laundering case against Deshmukh.

Meanwhile, Deshmukh on Thursday moved the Bombay high court, seeking to quash the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED’s) summons issued to him in connection with a money laundering case registered against him, and that the probe into the case be handed over to an SIT of ED officers outside Mumbai. He also sought that his statement be recorded by the ED through the electronic mode.

CBI has claimed that its probe suggested Deshmukh misused his position as Maharashtra home minister.