For Seeking Adjournment, Maharashtra Ex- Minister Told To Pay Rs 50,000

An inquiry commission conducting a probe into corruption allegations against former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh imposed a cost of Rs 50,000 on him on Tuesday for seeking an adjournment into the matter.

As the matter came up for hearing, a junior lawyer from Anil Deshmukh's legal team sought the adjournment, saying the senior counsel could not be present before the commission as he was busy with some other matter.

The commission, as a last chance, adjourned the matter till 12.30 pm on Wednesday.

It also imposed a cost of Rs 50,000 on the NCP leader and directed that it be deposited in the Chief Minister's COVID-19 Relief Fund.

The commission had earlier this month also imposed a cost of Rs 15,000 on Deshmukh for seeking adjournment.

The Maharashtra government had formed the Justice K U Chandiwal Commission in March this year the conduct a probe into the corruption allegations levelled against Deshmukh by former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh.

Dismissed police officer Sachin Waze is currently deposing before the single-member commission.

Singh, who was transferred from the post of Mumbai police commissioner in March in the aftermath of a bomb scare near the residence of industrialist Mukesh Ambani, had alleged that Deshmukh asked police officers to collect Rs 100 crore in a month from bars and restaurants in the city.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) are also probing the allegations made against Deshmukh by Singh.

Anil Deshmukh, who resigned from the post of state home minister in April this year, had been arrested by the ED in connection with a money laundering case. He is currently in judicial custody.