The Income Tax Department on Friday conducted searches at multiple premises linked to former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh in connection with a tax evasion investigation, official sources said. The raids were carried out in Mumbai, Nagpur and (Maharashtra) as well as Jaipur in Rajasthan, they said.
The 71-year-old former Minister is being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on charges of alleged money laundering and payment of purported kickbacks in the Maharashtra police establishment.
The ED case against Mr. Deshmukh, who was earlier Home Minister in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, and others, came after the CBI booked him in the corruption case related to allegations made by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh against him of “at least ₹100 crore bribe” .
Mr. Deshmukh had said that Mr. Singh made the allegations against him [Mr. Deshmukh] after he [Mr. Singh] was removed from the post of Mumbai Police Commissioner.
Mr. Deshmukh has refused to comply with at least five summons sent by the ED for questioning in the case, and has instead suggested that the agency to interact with him over an online link, saying he is a “law abiding citizen”. He resigned as Maharashtra Home Minister in April after the allegations surfaced, following the recovery of an explosives-laden SUV parked near the residence of Reliance Industries Limited chairman Mukesh Ambani, a case in which suspended Maharashtra policeman Sachin Vaze has been arrested.
