Former Maha home minister Anil Deshmukh appears before CBI
Former Maharashtra home ministerAnil Deshmukh appeared before the CBI on Wednesday forquestioning in connection with the allegations of corruptionlevelled against him by former Mumbai police commissionerParam Bir Singh, an official said.
Deshmukh reached the DRDO guest house, where a team ofthe Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is camping to, insuburban Santacruz around 10 am, he said.
The CBI on Monday issued a notice calling Deshmukh tojoin the agencys probe into the allegations levelled againsthim by Param Bir Singh and suspended police officer SachinWaze, the official said.
Waze, an assistant police inspector, is underinvestigation in the case of an explosive-laden SUV found nearindustrialist Mukesh Ambanis residence in south Mumbai.
The CBI is conducting a preliminary enquiry into theallegations against Deshmukh levelled by Singh after he wasremoved from the post of Mumbai police commissioner.
The allegations were reportedly corroborated by Wazein the custody of the National Investigation Agency (NIA),which is conducting a probe into the SUV case, officialsearlier said.
The Bombay High Court last week directed the CBI toconduct a preliminary inquiry into the allegations levelled bySingh against Deshmukh.
In a letter, Singh had claimed that Deshmukh askedWaze to allegedly extort over Rs 100 crore a month from barsand restaurants in Mumbai.
Deshmukh has denied the allegations.
So far, the CBI has recorded statements of Param BirSingh, Sachin Waze, Deputy Commissioner of Police RajuBhujbal, Assistant Commissioner of Police Sanjay Patil,advocate Jayshree Patil and hotel owner Mahesh Shetty.
It also questioned Deshmukhs personal assistantKundan Shinde and personal secretary Sanjeev Palande onSunday.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)
