A Secial Court on Tuesday rejected bail pleas filed by the personal secretary and personal assistant of former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh in money laundering case.
The special prevention of money laundering act (PMLA) court rejected the pleas of Sanjeev Palande (personal secretary) and Kundan Shinde (personal assistant).
They were both arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on June 26 under section 3 (offence of money laundering) and 19 (power to arrest) of PMLA and sent to judicial custody on July 6.
The ED states, “Mr. Palande has admitted that Mr. Deshmukh had a role in transfer posting of police officers especially the posting of IPS officers.”
The agency contended that both the accused have not given satisfactory reply regarding concealment of the proceeds of crime and therefore their ED custody needs to be extended. The officers also need to interrogate them on incriminating documents and electronic evidence.
There are statements of bar owners and managers to ED that reveal that dismissed police officer Sachin Vaze, currently lodged at the Taloja Central Jail, collected money from them. Mr. Vaze in his statement, also revealed that he was getting direct instructions from Mr. Deshmukh to do so. Mr. Vaze also alleged that he was told to collect ₹3 lakh per month from various bars and restaurants and that he handed over ₹4.70 crores from December 2020 to February 2021 to Mr Shinde.
