India News | Bribery Case: Special Court Allows CBI to Record Statements of Anil Deshmukh's Two Aides

Mumbai, Feb 5 (PTI) A special PMLA court here on Saturday allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation to record statements of two aides of former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh in connection with corruption allegations levelled against him.

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Deshmukh, his secretary Sanjeev Palande and personal assistant Kundan Shinde, were arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) probing a money laundering case. They are currently in judicial custody.

The CBI had moved the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court seeking permission to record the statements of Palande and Shinde, which was allowed by special judge R N Rokade on Saturday.

The judge also permitted CBI officers to carry necessary stationery, electronic devices and documents needed for recording statements.

The CBI had conducted Preliminary Enquiry (PE) on the orders of the Bombay High Court which directed the central agency to look into the allegations of bribery raised against Deshmukh by Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh after he was shunted out from the post last year.

In his letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Singh had alleged that Deshmukh gave some Mumbai police officers the target of collecting Rs 100 crore from bar owners from Mumbai per month.

The CBI later registered a regular case against Deshmukh and others.

Deshmukh had denied any wrongdoing.

Later, the ED registered a money laundering case against Deshmukh, his two aides and others.

Deshmukh had denied the allegations.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)