The Income Tax Department on Friday conducted searches at multiple properties linked to former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh in connection with a tax evasion investigation, official sources said. Deshmukh had resigned from office earlier this year while accused in a corruption scandal.
The 71-year-old former minister is being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on charges of alleged money laundering and payment of purported kickbacks in the police establishment of Maharashtra.
The ED case against Deshmukh, who was earlier the home minister in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, and others came after the CBI booked him in the corruption case related to the allegations levelled against him about extortion of at least Rs 100 crore worth of bribes. These allegations were made by former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh.
Deshmukh had said that Singh levelled those allegations against him after he was removed from the post of Mumbai Police Commissioner.
The former Home Minister has refused to comply with at least five summons sent by the ED for questioning in the case and has instead suggested for the agency to interact with him over video conferencing saying he was a "law abiding citizen."
Deshmukh resigned as Maharashtra home minister in April after the allegations surfaced following the recovery of an explosives-laden SUV parked near the residence of Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, a case in which suspended Maharashtra policeman Sachin Waze was arrested.
(With PTI Inputs)
