Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate on Friday issued fresh summons to former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh and his son to appear before it next week in connection with a money laundering case probe, official sources said.
The development comes on a day the Supreme Court adjourned Anil Deshmukh's plea, which sought protection from any coercive action by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the criminal case registered under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), and said it would hear his petition on August 3.
The 71-year-old NCP politician and his son, Hrishikesh Deshmukh, have been asked to depose before the investigating officer of the case on August 2 at the ED's office in south Mumbai. This is the fourth summons to Anil Deshmukh.
The notice has been issued under provisions of the PMLA as the agency wants to further record his statement in this case, sources said.
Anil Deshmukh has skipped at least three summonses of the federal probe agency in the past for questioning in the case. His son and wife too were summoned and they also did not appear.
He recently issued a video statement stating that he would appear before the ED "after" the apex court's decision on his petition. "I had received ED's summons after which I filed a petition in the Supreme Court. I will go to the ED to record my statement after the SC's decision on my petition," Anil Deshmukh had said.
The summonses were issued in connection with the criminal case registered under the PMLA related to an alleged Rs 100 crore bribery-cum-extortion racket in the Maharashtra police establishment that led to Anil Deshmukh's resignation in April.
The agency had last month raided his premises in Mumbai and Nagpur apart from that of his aides and some others.