Policenama – Special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court on Thursday has increased custody of Former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh ‘s two aides Kundan Shinde and Sanjeev Palande by five more days that is till July 6.
After former Mumbai Police chief Param Bir Singh’s accusation on Deshmukh for ordering some policemen to collect ₹100 crores from businesses, on June 25, Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided offices of Deshmukh.
During the probe, Deshmukh’s aides Sanjeev Palande and Kundan Shinde did not cooperated with the investigating officers following, those were arrested and produced before court. They were given ED custody till July 1.
Today when Shinde and Palande were produced before court based on the request of ED, the court extended their custody.
Meanwhile, Anil Deshmukh who was summoned by the ED, did not appeared before the agency and sought a fresh date for appearance. Even after ED gave fresh date to record his statement, he sent his advocate requesting the officials to record his statement through an audio-video mode of their choice. He expressed his inability to appear in person before the agency. He cited the Covid-19 pandemic as a reason.
Deshmukh sent a letter and wrote, “I am a septuagenarian, about 72 years of age, suffering from various comorbidities including hypertension and cardiac problems etc. I have already exposed my person to some extent on June 25 in my long interaction with you spanning over several hours during the course of the search and recording of my statement. Thus, it may not be prudent or desirable to appear in person today and I am sending my authorized representative.”
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