The Enforcement Directorate filed a prosecution complaint against former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh’s personal secretary Sanjeev Palande and personal assistant Kundan Shinde in a money laundering case against the politician for allegedly taking a bribe of up to Rs 100 crore.
The probe agency had arrested Palande and Shinde on July 1, claiming that suspended Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Waze collected Rs 4.7 crore from bar owners in the time span of three months – between December 2020 and February 2021 on the orders of Deshmukh. Waze gave the money to Shinde, according to ED, and subsequently a part of this money was routed to a charitable trust in Nagpur via four shell companies in Delhi.
The ED had then said that both Shinde and Palande were directly involved in collecting and laundering money on behalf of Deshmukh.
So far Deshmukh has not appeared before the ED for questioning and has skipped five summons sent by the ED. He claimed that the agency’s probe is unfair and is a brute abuse of power.
The bail pleas of the two arrested are pending on the basis that the case is a “political vendetta” and Waze’s statement cannot be relied upon.
