Mumbai Court issues process against Anil Deshmukh on criminal complaint by ED

A Mumbai Court has issued process against former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh in a plea by Enforcement Directorate (ED) against Deshmukh's non-appearance in response to the investigating agency's summons in the money laundering case. .ED had initiated a probe against the former minister for allegedly misusing his position by directing dismissed Mumbai cop Sachin Waze to collect money to the tune of ₹4.7 crore from various restaurants and bars in Mumbai..In order to conduct further investigation into these charges, ED issued five summons to Deshmukh asking him to appear before its officials for questioning..Reportedly, Deshmukh skipped all five summons with a response that he was seeking appropriate legal remedy in courts. These summons have been challenged by Deshmukh before the Bombay High Court and the plea is pending. .ED filed the application before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court of Esplanade, Mumbai seeking initiation of proceedings against Deshmukh for not obeying the summons issued..ED stated in the application that Deshmukh had committed offence under Section 174 of the Indian Penal Code and sought court’s intervention in the same..Advocates Shreeram Shirsat and Arvind Aghav apprised the Court of the court-directed enquiry conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which led to them registering an FIR. .Based on the FIR, an Enforcement Case Information Report was registered, and to conduct inquiry into that report ED issued five summons to Deshmukh on June 25 and 28, July 2 and 30 and August 16, 2021. .Couple of summons was received by Deshmukh personally while the remaining summons were received by his daughter and his advocate Inderpal Singh. .“The summons were served upon the accused (Deshmukh); inspite of that he has willfuly neglected to appear before complainant (ED). Thus committing an offence under 174 of IPC,” the lawyers argued praying for issuance of process. .After briefly hearing the lawyers, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate RM Nerlikar observed that from the submissions made on behalf of ED “prima facie case was made out against Deshmukh and hence process was issued returnable on November 16, 2021”.