The Central Bureau of Investigation on Sunday arrested an alleged middleman, Santosh Jagtap, in connection to the money laundering and corruption case involving former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, The Indian Express reported.

The central agency is probing Deshmukh for exercising “undue influence” over the transfer and postings of police officers. The complaints about corruption in postings and transfers were lodged by Rashmi Shukla, the additional director general of the Central Reserve Police Force’s South Zone.

Jagtap allegedly operated as a middleman for the transfer and posting of officials. A Mumbai court has given Jagtap’s custody to the investigating agency till November 4, according to The Hindu.

“Despite repeated summons, he did not join the investigation and had gone underground in August,” an unidentified Central Bureau of Investigation officer said. “Therefore, we got a non-bailable warrant from the competent court and arrested him.”

The Central Bureau of Investigation launched an inquiry into allegations against Deshmukh based on a Bombay High Court order passed in April. The court had directed investigation into allegations that Deshmukh coerced police officers to extort money on his behalf from the owners of bars and restaurants in Mumbai. Former Mumbai police chief Param Bir Singh had levelled the allegations of extortion in March.

Singh had alleged that dismissed police officer Sachin Vaze had been asked by Deshmukh to collect Rs 100 crore every month through illegal channels. He had also accused the former Maharashtra home minister of frequently interfering with police investigations in various cases.

The Enforcement Directorate, which is investigating Deshmukh based on the Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry, has claimed that more than Rs 4 crore collected from bar owners between December and February was routed to Deshmukh’s charitable trust in Nagpur through four shell companies in Delhi.