ED says it wasn’t heard before HC restrained authority from deciding on attachment of Deshmukh’s properties

The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday raised a grievance before the Bombay High Court that it was not heard before an order was passed by the HC restraining the adjudicating authority from deciding on the provisional attachment of assets of former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh.

The ED had last month arrested NCP leader Deshmukh in connection with a multi-crore money laundering case. He is currently in judicial custody.

On Monday, the HC restrained the adjudicating authority from passing a final order till further directions, while hearing a plea filed by the former minister’s wife Aarti Deshmukh, challenging the provisional attachment of assets by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

A division bench headed by Justice G S Patel had, however, permitted the authority to complete its hearing and posted the petition for hearing in January 2022.

On Tuesday, Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, appearing for the ED, informed the bench that the court failed to hear the investigating agency’s contentions before passing such an order.

The court then said it would hear the ED’s contention on December 10.

In the plea, Aarti Deshmukh had claimed the composition of the adjudicating authority under the PMLA was improper.

The authority is supposed to include a chairperson and two members, one of whom has to be mandatorily from law background. At present, the authority comprises just a single member who is not from the law background.

Earlier this year, the ED provisionally attached assets worth over Rs 4 crore belonging to Anil Deshmukh (71) and his family.

The ED had initiated a probe after the Central Bureau of Investigation filed an FIR against Anil Deshmukh following a preliminary inquiry into the allegations of corruption and official misconduct levelled against him by former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh.

Anil Deshmukh, who resigned from the state cabinet in April this year, has denied any wrongdoing.