I-T dept conducts raids against ex-Maharashtra minister Anil Deshmukh

The Income Tax Department on Friday conducted searches at multiple premises linked to former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh in connection with a tax evasion investigation, official sources said.

The raids are being carried out in Mumbai and Nagpur (Maharashtra) as well as Jaipur in Rajasthan, they said.

The 71-year-old former minister is being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) too on charges of alleged money laundering and payment of purported kickbacks in the police establishment of Maharashtra.

The ED case against Deshmukh, who was earlier the home minister in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, and others came after the CBI booked him in the corruption case related to allegations of at least Rs 100 crore bribe made by former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh.

Deshmukh had said that Singh made the allegations against him after he was removed from the post of Mumbai Police Commissioner.

He has refused to comply with at least five summons sent by the ED for questioning in the case and has instead suggested for the agency to interact with him over an online link saying he was a "law abiding citizen."

Deshmukh resigned as Maharashtra home minister in April after the allegations surfaced following the recovery of an explosives-laden SUV parked near the residence of Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, a case in which suspended Maharashtra policeman Sachin Waze was arrested.