Maharashtra Chief Secretary Sitaram Kunte has declined to adhere to the summon of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) who asked him to appear before the agency on November 25 in connection with the money laundering probe against jailed former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.
Kunte said that he will not be able to turn up before the ED to record his statements as he is busy with Cabinet meetings on November 25.
The ED summoned Kunte to record his statement regarding the transfer and postings of police officers in Maharashtra when Deshmukh was heading the home portfolio. Anil Deshmukh, a prominent leader of the Nationalist Congress, was forced to resign as Home Minister in the first week of April after the Bombay High Court ordered a CBI probe against him for allegedly running an extortion racket.
The former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh had written a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray alleging Deshmukh had asked controversial cop Sachin Vaze to collect Rs. 100 crore every month from bars, restaurants and other establishments.
There were other serious allegations of corruption in transfer and posting.
This month, CBI arrested a private person named Santosh Shankar Jagtap from Thane. Jagtap allegedly acted as the go-between in the transfers and postings of police officers when Anil Deshmukh was the home minister. His name surfaced during the call intercepts of certain phone numbers done by former Maharashtra DGP Rashmi Shukla.
Notably, Kunte a 1985 batch officer is set to retire on November 30 and the Maharashtra government requested the Centre for his three months extension.