The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday registered a case of money laundering against former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh. The CBI case claims that ex-Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh and “unknown others” had used their official position to obtain an undue advantage, as well as influenced the transfers and postings in the Mumbai Police, as alleged by former city police commissioner Param Bir Singh. ED was probing the financial aspects of the CBI case, as the central anti-money laundering agency is mandated to do so in any scheduled offense. CBI found "prima facie" truth in these allegations after the Bombay high court asked the premier anti-corruption agency to look into the allegations against Anil Deshmukh as part of a preliminary inquiry. Meanwhile, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) -- an ally in the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition government in the state -- has called the actions against former state home minister Anil Deshmukh in the alleged extortion racket case as "politically motivated".

Source: Hindustan Times May 11, 2021 05:49 UTC