MUMBAI: A deputy secretary of the Maharashtra home department appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) here on Thursday in connection with a money laundering case registered against former state home minister Anil Deshmukh and others, sources said.
The ED had earlier summoned Kailas Gaikwad, the home department's deputy secretary, in connection with the case, they said. Gaikwad reached the ED's office in south Mumbai around 11 am, the sources said, adding that his statement was being recorded by officials of the probe agency.
On Tuesday, the ED questioned Maharashtra Transport Minister Anil Parab for nearly eight hours here in connection with the same case.
The Enforcement Directorate is conducting a probe into the alleged Rs 100-crore bribery-cum-extortion racket in the Maharashtra police establishment that led to Deshmukh's resignation from the state cabinet in April this year.
The ED's case against Deshmukh, an NCP leader, and others came after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) booked him in a corruption case related to allegations of at least Rs 100 crore bribe levelled by former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh.
Deshmukh, who has skipped the ED summons at least five times till now and moved court against the agency, has rejected all allegations against him. The NCP politician has said Singh made the allegations against him after he was removed from the post of Mumbai police commissioner in March this year.