Conducted raids in 8 cities in Anil Deshmukh case: CBI

The CBI raids took place three days before the Supreme Court is due to hear Deshmukh’s petition on July 30, requesting a fair investigation in the case.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday said it has conducted searches at 12 locations in eight cities, including Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Osmanabad, in connection with the alleged corruption case against former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh.

The CBI raids took place three days before the Supreme Court is due to hear Deshmukh’s petition on July 30, requesting a fair investigation in the case.

CBI sources said searches were conducted on the premises of a few police officers, including Assistant Superintendent of Police Sanjay Patil, Deputy Superintendent of Police Raju Bhujbal and a few middlemen on July 27, in connection with the case.

Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is also probing the case, has allegedly established money laundering of over Rs 80 crore by him, sources said.

Last month, the ED probe found that Deshmukh, while acting as the home minister of Maharashtra, “received illegal gratification of approximately Rs 4.7 crore in cash from various orchestra bar owners” through now dismissed Mumbai Police officer Sachin Waze, arrested in the Ambani terror scare case.

According to the ED, Deshmukh’s family “laundered the tainted sum of Rs 4.18 crore and projected it as untainted by showing the same as amount received by the trust namely Shri Sai Shikshan Sanstha”.

In April, the CBI filed an FIR against Deshmukh and charged him with corruption and bribery after a preliminary enquiry (PE) found that the former state minister had “attempted to obtain undue advantage for improper and dishonest performance of his public duty”.

The CBI is also probing Deshmukh of exercising “undue influence” over the transfer and posting of police officials as alleged by former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh.

On March 20, Singh in an eight-page letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, alleged that Deshmukh had asked Waze to collect Rs 100 crore every month, including Rs 40-50 crore, from 1,750 bars and restaurants across Mumbai.

Waze is being investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for his alleged role in the Ambani scare case and the murder of businessman Mansukh Hiran.

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