Anil Deshmukh, the leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), claimed that if he had accepted a “deal” for his release from prison, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government would not have lasted even 2.5 years.
Addressing an event in Wardha, Deshmukh said, “You all know I was kept in jail for 14 months under false allegations. I had received an offer for a deal. Had I accepted, I wouldn’t have been in jail. The MVA government would have got toppled even before 2.5 years if I had accepted the offer, but I didn’t go for settlement.”
Deshmukh was granted conditional bail by the Bombay high court on December 12, 2022, in exchange for a Rs 1 lakh bond after being arrested in relation to an alleged Rs 100 crore extortion case.
In November 2021, the Enforcement Directorate detained him on the grounds that he had abused his authority as the state’s home minister by using some police officials to steal Rs 4.70 crore from several Mumbai bars.
Deshmukh filed a plea with a special PMLA court in Mumbai earlier that day, on January 6, and was given permission to travel to Nagpur. Deshmukh was given bail on the terms that he must coordinate with the inquiry and cannot leave Mumbai without the trial court’s prior approval.
“Param Bir Singh (then Mumbai police commissioner), in an affidavit submitted in court, stated that the accusations against me were based on hearsay and that he had no evidence against me,” Deshmukh said earlier. “Param Bir Singh and Sachin Vaze (Mumbai ex-cop) made false allegations and I had to stay in jail.”
Notably, Anil Deshmukh served as Maharashtra’s Home Minister during the MVA era before being detained by the ED in connection with an alleged money laundering case.
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