Former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh has been remanded to the Central Bureau of Investigation's custody till April 11 in connection with an alleged corruption and extortion case.
The CBI took Mr Deshmukh in their custody from Arthur Road Jail today in the morning and presented him before a special CBI court in Mumbai.
The CBI had sought 10 days' custody of the former Maharashtra home minister. However, the court granted them his custody for only six days.
Yesterday, the central agency had told the special CBI Court that Mr Deshmukh was trying to evade CBI questioning in the money laundering case and that is why he is citing health reasons.
The CBI has already taken custody of former Mumbai police officer Sachin Waze and two of the close aides of Mr Deshmukh, Kundan Shinde and Sanjeev Palande.
It has taken custody of these three to carry out further investigation into the alleged corruption and extortion case against Mr Deshmukh.
These three accused were in judicial custody of the Special PMLA Court in the money laundering case against Mr Deshmukh.
While arguing their case in the special CBI court, the probe agency through its lawyer had argued, "The former home minister is trying to evade CBI questioning and that is why he is citing health reasons and is admitted to hospital."
Arguing their demand to take all accused to Delhi for further investigation, the CBI lawyer said, "There is a need of confrontation of all these accused with each other and other witnesses of this case so they are needed to be taken to Delhi," but the Special Court refused the CBI's demand and directed them to question these three accused in Mumbai itself.
The CBI objected to Anil Deshmukh's claim about his health and told the court that the agency had already taken orders of the concerned courts for taking Anil Deshmukh into custody last week but due to Gudi Padva on Saturday followed by a Sunday they could not take Anil Deshmukh's custody from jail and when they reached Arthur Road jail to take custody, they were told that Mr Deshmukh is admitted to hospital.
"So, it might be the case that Anil Deshmukh is playing tricks to evade the CBI investigation," the CBI said.
The CBI requested the special court to ask for a detailed medical report from JJ Hospital where Mr Deshmukh is admitted.
Replying to the CBI's arguments, the lawyers of Anil Deshmukh and the other three accused argued in court that the statements of the accused were already taken by CBI in the case. So there is no need for custody to CBI in this same case.
The former Maharashtra home minister was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in November, last year in connection with the alleged Rs 100-crore extortion and money laundering case.
Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh had accused Anil Deshmukh of asking dismissed assistant inspector Sachin Waze to collect Rs 100 crore from hotels and bars in Mumbai every month. The ED registered a case against Mr Deshmukh and others based on a corruption case filed against him by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had arrested the dismissed Mumbai police officer Sachin Waze in March 2021 in connection with the investigation into the recovery of explosives from a car parked near Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani's house Antilia in Mumbai.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
