Nagpur, Dec 9 (PTI) Maharashtra NCP chief Jayant Patil on Thursday said he expects that his party colleague Anil Deshmukh, arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), will be released soon as there is no evidence against him.

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Patil, who is also a minister in the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress coalition government, was speaking to reporters at the Nagpur airport.

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"We are expecting that Anil Deshmukh will come out soon from custody. Central agencies are trying to keep him in custody without any reason," the NCP leader said.

The allegations against Deshmukh, a former state home minister, are baseless, Patil claimed.

Deshmukh is in judicial custody after the ED arrested him in a money laundering case, alleging that money collected on his behalf by (now dismissed) police officer Sachin Waze from bars and restaurants was channelized into education trusts controlled by Deshmukh.

(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)