Former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh sent to 14-day judicial custody. (File)
New Delhi:
Former Maharashtra minister Anil Deshmukh — arrested in a corruption case earlier this month — was sent to judicial custody for 14 days today. The special court, however, turned down his request for home-cooked meals. “You eat jail food first. If not, then I will consider,” the judge said.
The court, however, accepted his appeal for a bed in view of the medical condition of the 71-year-old.
Mr Deshmukh, the former Home Minister of Maharashtra, was arrested on November 1 in connection with a case of money laundering. The Enforcement Directorate made the arrest after questioning him for 12 hours at their office in Mumbai.
The agency started its investigation against Mr Deshmukh after the Central Bureau of Investigation filed a corruption case against him in April.
The money laundering case stemmed from former Mumbai police Parambir Singh’s Rs 100 crore bribery allegation.
The agency contends that Mr Deshmukh had misused his position as the home minister and collected Rs 4.70 crore from bars and restaurants of the city with the help of dismissed police officer Sachin Waze.
Mr Deshmukh has denied all allegations of wrongdoing and argued that the agency’s case was just based on malicious statements made by a tainted cop (Sachin Waze).
Mr Deshmukh had stepped down from his post earlier this year amid a row over bribery allegations by Parambir Singh, who is currently missing.
His resignation came hours after the Bombay High Court ordered a preliminary CBI investigation into the allegations of Mr Singh on the issue which started with the discovery of a car full of explosives near industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s Mumbai home in February. The agency was given 15 days to submit the report.
Now Parambir Singh faces corruption allegations and cases have been filed against him by the Mumbai Police and the state’s Anti-Corruption Bureau.
