Anil Deshmukh Had Crores Collected From Bars & Restaurants, Dummy Firms Used To Channel Money To His Trust: ED

Sachin Waze claimed that he was given a list of bars and restaurant owners in a meeting held at the official residence of Anil Deshmukh. He said he had been asked to collect Rs 3 lakh per month from each bar and restaurant.

Mumbai: During his tenure as Maharashtra home minister, Anil Deshmukh received over Rs 4 crore from bar owners in Mumbai and channeled that money to his trust in the form of donations through dummy companies, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said during the remand hearing of his personal secretary Sanjeev Palande and personal assistant Kundan Shinde on Saturday.

Sanjeev Palande and Kundan Shinde were arrested on Friday in connection with the alleged money laundering case against Anil Deshmukh related to a Rs 100 crore bribery charge.

The duo was booked under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and was remanded in the ED custody till July 1.

Earlier in the day, Deshmukh was also asked to appear before the investigating officer at the ED office in Ballard Estate by 11 am. However, a team of Deshmukh's lawyers reached the ED office and sought a fresh date for appearance. 

Advocate Jaywant Patil, Anil Deshmukh's lawyer said, "We've given the letter to ED and asked them to furnish documents based on which we're to be questioned as we don't have any knowledge about the line of investigation. So we're unable to appear for questioning. Now ED has to take a call on it." 

Meanwhile, the ED told the court that Anil Deshmukh's personal secretary and assistant were instrumental in aiding him in money laundering.

While seeking remand of the duo, ED told the court that some bar owners/managers divulged in their statements that a meeting was held by Sachin Waze, the then head of crime intelligence unit (CTU), with the bar owners over the collection of money for smooth functioning of their orchestra bars after restricted hours without any restrictions on the performance artists.

Collected Rs 4.70 crore from various bar owners: Sachin Waze

It was found out that Waze had collected Rs 4.70 crore from various orchestra bar owners across Mumbai, the ED said on the basis of the statements.

Later, Sachin Waze also stated that he used to get direct instructions from the then home minister in a number of police investigations, the ED told the court.

Waze claimed that he was given a list of bars and restaurant owners in a meeting held at the official residence of then Maharashtra home minister. He said he had been asked to collect Rs 3 lakh per month from each bar and restaurant and hence a meeting was arranged with various bar owners, the ED said citing the sacked police officer's statement.

Waze also added that he had collected approximately Rs 4.70 crore from various bar owners between the months of December 2020 and February 2021, which he handed over to Kundan Shinde in two installments, the ED said.

Waze is currently under judicial custody in connection with the explosives-laden SUV found near billionaire Mukesh Ambani's residence in south Mumbai and the murder of businessman Mansukh Hiran being probed by the NIA.

Money Laundering Through Dummy Companies

The Enforcement Directorate reported that it came across Nagpur-based Shri Sai Shikshan Sanstha, a charitable trust, run by the Deshmukh family during the probe.

Anil Deshmukh is the chairman of this trust and his family members are trustees and members.

The trust is running engineering, MBA, and polytechnic colleges in Nagpur. However, scrutiny of bank statements of the trust revealed that there are a number of entries of cheques amounting to approximately Rs 4.18 crore in the recent past, the ED stated.

The court was told that the trust received this money from various companies based in Delhi.

The agency's probe has so far revealed that these companies exist only on paper and they work for providing "transfer entries".

ED said stated that searches conducted at four locations in Delhi and it emerged that these companies are owned by Surendra Kumar Jain and his brother Virendra Jain.

Their statements revealed that a person from Nagpur had contacted them and asked for transfer adjustment entries in the garb of donation to the trust.

Accordingly, money was received in the form of cash from that person on the instructions of the Deshmukh family and the amount was channelized through a web of companies to the trust in the garb of donations, as per the ED.

Approximately Rs 4.18 crore was diverted to the trust in the garb of loans/donations, the ED said.

"Accordingly, it is apparent that Deshmukh by virtue of his earlier position as state home minister had received amounts to the tune of approx Rs 4.70 crore from the orchestra bars owners and the amount was apparently used by him through his son Hrishikesh for providing the cash to Delhi-based (on) paper companies. After layering, the same (money) was routed to the Shri Sai Shikshan Sanstha Trust in the form of donation," the anti-money laundering agency said.

The ED's probe so far has found that there are 11 companies that are directly controlled by the family members of Anil Deshmukh. Further, another set of 13 companies are in the names of close associates of the Deshmukh family.

From the analysis of accounts of these companies it is clear that there is no rationale for transfers and it can thus be said that these series of transactions were meant for inflating the balance sheets and layering of money from one company to the other, the ED said.

Anil Deshmukh's Aides Had Key Role

The ED also stated it is apparent that his personal assistant Kundan Shinde played a key role in collecting cash from Waze and assisted in laundering the money.

Personal secretary Palande was instrumental in passing on the instructions of Deshmukh about transfer, postings and collection of money from orchestra bars (to police officers).

He also hart a part to play in analysing and assessing the work of collection of tainted money through police officers.

Shinde and Palande had also received the money in the form of cash which needed to be investigated further, the ED told the court, adding that thery were directly involved in the offence of money laundering.

Their custodial interrogation is the need of the hour amind the ongoing investigation, the ED said.

The allegation of collection of about Rs 100 crore was made in this case. The entire money trail requires to be established in order to bring the guilty to book, it added.

The probe agency also informed that the involvement of a foreign angle may not be ruled out at this stage.

(With Agency Inputs)