Ex-Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh sent to ED custody till November 6

Former Maharashtra home minister and senior NCP leader Anil Deshmukh, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), has been remanded to the federal agency's custody till 6 November.

Deshmukh (72) is close to NCP founder-president Sharad Pawar and party’s general secretary Praful Patel.

Deshmukh, who had evaded five summons earlier, was arrested midnight after 12 hours of questioning.

The senior politician from Vidarbha had to resign from the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government after former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh - who is now untraceable - alleged that the minister fixed a Rs 100-crore-per-month collection target for now dismissed assistant police inspector Sachin Waze.

Before Deshmukh entered the ED office, he released a press statement and a video statement from his Twitter handle.

“When I got summons from the ED, I was accused of not cooperating with the probe agency. The media has been wrongly reporting that I have been evading summons, but I want to make it clear that whenever I was asked to appear, I told the probe agency that the matter is in the Bombay High Court and Supreme Court and to wait for the outcome,” Deshmukh said.

"I clearly said that once the decision is out, I will be at the ED office. When my office and my homes were raised, my family and staff cooperated with them. I also got two summons from CBI... whenever I got summons I went to CBI office and got my statement recorded. Even today, my case is pending in the Supreme Court. But today I have presented myself in the ED office,” he added.

Waze was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the twin cases of planting of a gelatine sticks-laden Mahindra Scorpio near Antilia, the residence of Reliance Industries Ltd chairman Mukesh Ambani and the murder of the SUV owner Mansukh Hiren and faces murder and terror charges.

Deshmukh, his wife Aarti Deshmukh and their son Hrishikesh Deshmukh had been repeatedly summoned by ED.

ED had arrested Deshmukh’s personal secretary Sanjeev Palande and personal assistant Kundan Shinde - and they have been chargesheeted by the ED, which has also attached properties to the tune of Rs 4.20 crore which are linked to Deshmukh and his family.

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