MUMBAI: The ED told the HC on Tuesday that a plea had been made before the special NIA court to record the statement of dismissed cop Sachin Waze to confront him with statements of Anil Deshmukh’s private secretary Sanjeev Palande and Deshmukh’s PA Kundan Shinde. The plea will be heard by the NIA court on Thursday. The ED had recorded Waze’s statement earlier too.
Last week, while seeking the duo’s custody, the ED had submitted that Palande, in his statement, said Deshmukh had a role in transfer postings of police officers, specially those in the IPS. The agency added that investigations had revealed a meeting was held to discuss transfers of police and IPS officers and that an unofficial list of candidates was prepared.
The ED investigation found over Rs 50 crore suspicious transactions in around two dozen companies associated with Deshmukh. It examined records of these companies and is trying to trace the source of the suspicious money.
The ED had also alleged that Palande had coordinated with Waze, DCP Raju Bhujbal and ACP Sanjay Patil to collect money from ‘orchestra bar’ owners in Mumbai and hand it over to Shinde. It was further alleged that Waze had said he had collected Rs 4.7 crore between December 2020 and February 2021 (when the government relaxed lockdown conditions allowing bars to operate) and handed the money over to Shinde.
“It is also apparent that Shinde is instrumental in collecting cash from Waze on behalf of Anil Deshmukh, then home minister of Maharashtra government, and assisted him in money laundering,” the remand plea said. Waze’s statements were confirmed by two police officers whose statements were recorded, the investigating agency said.
The ED submitted that veracity of the statements of Waze and others is required to be established. Waze is currently lodged in Taloja jail for his alleged involvement in the planting of explosives in a Scorpio near industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence at Carmichael Road and the subsequent murder of Scorpio owner Mansukh Hiran.
ED’s submissions were part of a plea submitted during the remand hearing of Palande and Shinde. The court sent the duo to judicial custody till July 20. They were arrested on June 25.
