The Enforcement Directorate on Monday filed a chargesheet against former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh’s aides Sanjeev Palande and Kundan Shinde in an alleged money laundering case, ANI reported.

The agency had arrested the two men on June 26 in connection with the case. While Palande is Deshmukh’s private secretary, Shinde is his private assistant.

The central agency has alleged that suspended assistant police inspector of Mumbai Police Sachin Vaze had collected Rs 4.7 crore from the bar owners from December 2020 to February’s on Deshmukh’s instructions.

Vaze handed over the money to Shinde, Enforcement Directorate has alleged, according to The Indian Express. Meanwhile, a lawyer, representing the Enforcement Directorate had told a court hearing the matter that Palande was also given money, ANI reported. Vaze and two other police officers have verified this claim in their statements in the case, the lawyer had said.

The money was then routed to Deshmukh’s charitable trust in Nagpur through four shell companies, the Enforcement Directorate has alleged.

Allegations against Deshmukh

Former Mumbai police chief Param Bir Singh had in March accused Deshmukh, a Nationalist Congress Party leader, of extorting money from the owners of bars and restaurants in the city. Singh alleged that Vaze told him that Deshmukh had asked him to collect Rs 100 crore every month through illegal channels.

Deshmukh repeatedly denied the accusations, but resigned from the state Cabinet on April 5 after the Bombay High Court directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to conduct a preliminary inquiry against him.

The Enforcement Directorate has summoned the former Maharashtra home minister five times, but he has skipped all of them.