Anil Deshmukh's son Hrishikesh actively involved in money laundering: ED tells court

Hrishikesh Deshmukh, son of former Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, was active in financial fraud cases. Hrishikesh helped his father to show the illegally received money in the form of donations, according to an affidavit filed in a special PMLA court by the Directorate of Recovery (ED) opposing Hrishikesh Deshmukh's pre-arrest bail application. The court has fixed December 4 for hearing on Deshmukh's pre-arrest bail application.

If Hrishikesh Deshmukh's pre-arrest bail is granted, the possibility of tampering with evidence cannot be ruled out, the ED claimed. Preliminary investigations have revealed that Deshmukh and his family have control over 11 companies. In most of these companies, Hrishikesh is a director or a shareholder. Hrishikesh Deshmukh's father handed over some of the Rs 4.70 crore recovered from bars and restaurants by suspended police officer Sachin Waze to his colleague through hawala and the same was shown as a donation to the trust, the ED said in an affidavit filed in the court.

Hrishikesh Deshmukh along with his family set up a company called 'Complex Web' and the account of the same company has been used for suspicious transactions. Despite six summons, Hrishikesh Deshmukh is not cooperating with the probe, the ED said in its affidavit. Hrishikesh Deshmukh has said in his pre-arrest bail application that ED was taking action with wrong intention. The police force is not part of the 'zamindari system'; CBI's argument in High Court.

- The state police force is an independent body and should be free from the control of executive officers. The police force should not be part of any 'zamindari system', the CBI had on Monday objected to a petition filed by the state government against the summons issued to senior administrative officials of the state government.

- CBI’s additional solicitor general Aman Lekhi informed the division bench of Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Sarang Kotwal that while the state government said that it was not averse to cooperating with the CBI, it was resorting to all possible means to derail the same.

- No fundamental rights of the state government have been violated in this case. The state government's objective is to interfere in the ongoing probe against Deshmukh in the corruption case. When Deshmukh was Home Minister, Subodh Jaiswal was the Director of State Police. He was present at meetings on police transfers and appointments. Lekhi rejected the state government's claim that the investigation was compromised after Jaiswal was appointed as the CBI director.