Mumbai Jan 24 PTI Former Maharashtra home minister and NCP leader Anil Deshmukh on Monday deposed before the Chandiwal Commission and denied allegations that extortion money was demanded from a bar owner He was being cross examined by dismissed cop Sachin Wazes advocate Yogesh Naidu During the recording of evidence Naidu pointed to a WhatsApp message received by Waze from one Ankit Anand who owned a bar named True Tramm Trunk TTT It is Wazes allegation that Anand was a close friend of Deshmukhs son Salil Deshmukh The Whatsapp message read I am ready with the collection as told by Salil about hukka parlour pubs and orchestra bars Pls let me know when to meet you Ankit anand friend of Salil Deshmukh HM son Naidu asked Deshmukh if he knew Anand to which the NCP leader replied in the negative and also denied the extortion allegation It is Wazes allegation that TTT was one of the 1750 bars from where Deshmukh had asked him to extort money After Naidu completed his cross-examination Deshmukh before rising from his seat in the witness box told the commission he wanted to speak about param satya Why did Param Bir Singh former commissioner of police write that letter leveling corruption allegations against Deshmukh I want to state that the param satya should come out Deshmukh said Justice Chandiwal however told Deshmukh he will need to take written permission if he wanted to speak He further said the former minister had already stated whatever he wished to say in his affidavit Wazes application seeking to summon Mumbai Joint Police Commissioner Milind Bharambe as a witness was also rejected though Justice Chandiwal gave a days time to Waze to take legal opinion on whether he wanted the challenge the order The Maharashtra government in March last year formed the one-member commission under Justice KU Chandiwal retired to probe Param Bir Singhs allegations against Deshmukh Singh who was transferred from the post of Mumbai police commissioner in March in the aftermath of the Antilia bomb scare episode had claimed Deshmukh had asked police officers to collect Rs 100 crore a month from bars and restaurants in the city The Central Bureau of Investigation CBI and the Enforcement Directorate ED are also probing these allegations against Deshmukh who is currently in judicial custody in a money laundering case PTI SP BNM BNM BNM

Mumbai Nov 17 PTI The Central Bureau of Investigation CBI on Wednesday told the Bombay High Court the Maharashtra government is trying shamelessly to frustrate an ongoing corruption probe against former state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh and that it does not deserve any relief in the matterThe central agency urged the HC to not grant any relief to the Maharashtra government which is seeking quashing of CBI summons issued to chief secretary Sitaram Kunte and current DGP Sanjay Pandey related to its ongoing probe against DeshmukhAdditional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi who appeared for the CBI told a bench led by Justice Nitin Jamdar that the state government failed to initiate a probe into allegations of misconduct and corruption made against Deshmukh earlier this year by former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir SinghLekhi said the state government was bound by law to initiate a probeHowever it chose not to do so and instead approached the HC seeking amongst other things that some portions of the CBIs FIR against Deshmukh be expunged these related to now dismissed cop Sachin Wazes reinstatement in 2020 and transfers and postings of officers he saidAn investigation that was the mandate of law did not take place and thats why the HC had to pass April 5 order Lekhi said referring to a previous order of the high court directing the CBI to initiate a preliminary inquiry into the allegations made against the NCP leaderThe 71-year-old politician is currently in jail under judicial custody after being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate ED in a money laundering caseBecause of its incompetence and its conduct the state of Maharashtra is not deserving of any relief from this court Maharashtra is persistently and rather shamelessly continuing with its endeavor to frustrate the ongoing probe and to ensure investigation doesnt take place he saidLekhi also opposed the argument made by the state government last month through senior counsel Darius Khambata that since the current CBI director Subodh Jaiswal was the Maharashtra Director General of Police when Deshmukh was home minister he too was a potential subject of the ongoing probeKhambata had told the HC last month that between 2019 and 2020 when Jaiswal was the DGP he was a part of the Police Establishment Board and thus a party to several of the transfers and postings of state police officers that are now being probed by the CBIThe recommendations for the said transfers and postings were approved by Jaiswal who was the DGP during Deshmukhs tenure as Maharashtra Home minister Khambata had saidHowever on Wednesday Lekhi pointed out that in August 2020 while Jaiswal was the Maharashtra DGP he had written to the state government seeking a CID probe into alleged irregularities in the transfers and postings of state police officersThe CBI director who was then the DGP wrote to the state of Maharashtra seeking a probe He did what was appropriate and what was expected of an ethical police officer Lekhi said If he were guilty why would he write this letter he askedThe CBI counsel questioned the Maharashtra governments locus standi or its right to approach the court seeking the present reliefKhambata however said the CBIs probe was affecting the entire state police force and therefore the government had a parens patriae power to protect persons who are unable to act on their own behalf jurisdiction to approach the HCThe state of Maharashtra has no intention of delaying or scuttling the probe But the CBI is heavily compromised and the citizens of the country deserve a free and fair probe into the case Khambata saidFollowing an order of the high court issued on April 5 this year the CBI conducted a preliminary inquiry into the allegations made by Singh against DeshmukhThe central agency subsequently registered an FIR against the former minister who resigned from the cabinet after the HC orderIn September this year the CBI summoned chief secretary Kunte and DGP Pandey asking them to report to its office in Delhi for answering questions related to DeshmukhThe Maharashtra government however approached the HC challenging the summons issued to the two senior bureaucratsThe HC will hear the plea further on November 22 PTI AYA RSY RSY