ED questions ex-chief secy on Deshmukh
MUMBAI : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday questioned former Maharashtra chief secretary Sitaram Kunte for over six hours in connection with the money laundering case against former home minister Anil Deshmukh.
Kunte was earlier summoned by ED on November 25 for answering questions related to the probe into the allegations against Deshmukh and transfers and postings of state police officers. However, he had then informed the agency that he won’t be able to join the probe due to some important meetings.
Now that he has retired from the service on November 30, he visited the ED office in Ballard estate on Tuesday morning and joined the investigation.
Sources said that ED is trying to collect strong evidence against Deshmukh, whom the agency has arrested on November 2 in the PMLA case, to also prove the allegations of bribery in transfer and postings of senior police officers. Presently, Deshmukh is in custody.
Earlier, the ED questioned transportation minister Anil
Parab and Bajrang Kharmate in this case. Kharmate’s name had cropped up in the statement of dismissed API Sachin Vaze and some other witnesses in the PMLA case against Deshmukh.
The anti-money laundering agency on September 30 had also questioned Kailash Gaikwad, a deputy secretary in the home department in connection with this case. Gaikwad was part of the IPS officers transfer process.
The money laundering case against Deshmukh was registered after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a first information report (FIR) against him on April 21. He had in the past said that the allegations against him are false. The Central agency has alleged that while serving as the Maharashtra home minister, Deshmukh misused his position, and through assistant police inspector Sachin Vaze — who has now been dismissed and is in Taloja jail for his alleged role in the Antilia explosives scare case.