ED issues fresh summons to Maharashtra minister Anil Parab in Anil Deshmukh money laundering case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued fresh summons to Shiv Sena leader and Maharashtra Transport Minister Anil Parab for questioning next week in the money laundering case registered against former state minister Anil Deshmukh and others, officials said on Saturday.

This is the second summons issued to Parab, 56, who also holds the parliamentary affairs portfolio in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

The three-term party legislator in the Maharashtra legislative council was first summoned by the agency to depose on August 31, which he had declined citing official engagements and had sought more time.

The officials said the minister has now been asked by the ED to depose before the investigating officer of the case at the agency's office in south Mumbai on September 28.

They said Parab is to be questioned in the money laundering case being investigated against former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh after certain "disclosures" have been made by other accused and those involved in the case.

Read | Money laundering case: HC to hear Anil Deshmukh's plea against ED summons on Sept 29

The summons pertain to the criminal investigation being carried out by the ED in the alleged Rs 100 crore bribery-cum-extortion racket in the Maharashtra police establishment that led to Deshmukh's resignation in April.

The ED case against Deshmukh, who was earlier the home minister in the MVA government, and others came after the CBI booked him in the corruption case related to allegations of at least Rs 100 crore bribe made by former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh.

Deshmukh, who had skipped ED summons at least five times till now and has moved court against the agency, had said Singh made the allegations against him after he was removed from the post of Mumbai Police Commissioner.

The ED may question Parab about the statements it has twice recorded of jailed police officer and another accused in this case, Sachin Waze.

The suspended cop Waze, arrested by the NIA in a case where an explosives-laden SUV was recovered from near the Mumbai house of Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, had earlier alleged in a letter he sought to submit before a court that in January 2021, Parab asked him to look into an inquiry against "fraudulent" contractors listed in the Mumbai civic body and "collect" at least Rs 2 crore from about 50 such contractors.

Parab had then rejected Waze's claims and had said he was ready to face any probe into the allegations.