Maha Vikas Aghadi allies NCP and Congress on Tuesday termed the Enforcement Directorate’s move to file a criminal case against former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh as the politics of revenge and said the action was aimed at diverting the people’s attention from “failure” of the Modi government in tackling the pandemic.
The NCP accused the BJP of trying to defame the state government as well as the Sharad Pawar-led party.
The officials said the ED was likely to summon Deshmukh and his personal staff soon in its investigation into the case. Unlike the CBI, ED, the federal anti-money laundering agency, can record statements of any person in a case under PMLA’s Section 50 and it is admissible as evidence in court.
Earlier on April 24, the CBI had filed a case against the NCP leader for corruption and misuse of power. The central investigative authority had informed that Deshmukh and other unidentified individuals took undue advantage of their official position.
A preliminary investigation by the CBI, as directed by the Bombay High Court, found that Deshmukh was privy to the information that all ‘sensational and important cases of the police’ were being handled by the tainted cop Sachin Waze. The central agency had searched residences of Anil Deshmukh in Nagpur, Mumbai, Thane and Pune.