Two aides to Anil Deshmukh, former Maharashtra home minister, were remanded in judicial custody by a special PMLA court Tuesday. The money laundering case was related to bribery charges of Rs 100 crore.On June 26, Deshmukh was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), along with his personal secretary Sanjeev Paleev and Kundan Shinde, both of whom were Kundan Shinde's personal assistants.They were booked under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. At the conclusion of their ED remand, on Tuesday, the duo were brought before SM Bhosle, a special judge.As requested by the probe agency, the court placed them in judicial custody. The ED earlier stated that the two defendants played a "very important" role in the offense.In a letter to Uddhav Thackeray, Param Bir Singh, former Mumbai police chief, claimed that Deshmukh had ordered Sachin Waze, a dismissed policeman, to extort more than Rs 100 crore each month from Mumbai bars and restaurants.After the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which conducted a preliminary inquiry into the allegations made on the orders of Bombay High Court by Singh, the ED filed a case against Deshmukh.Deshmukh was booked by the CBI along with others in sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), related to criminal conspiracy, and the Prevention of Corruption Act. They were charged with "attempts to obtain undue benefit for the improper or dishonest performance of a public duty".Deshmukh, who was resigned in April as state home minister following the allegations has denied any wrongdoing.
