It's clear extortion was being done at Anil Deshmukh's instance: CBI court

MUMBAI: In a detailed 35-page order made available on Saturday, the special CBI court that rejected former state home minister Anil Deshmukh's bail plea said prima facie it is established that dismissed cop and accused-turned prosecution witness Sachin Waze was used by the NCP leader and others for collection of bribe money from bar owners. The court further said that after perusal of statements of witnesses, it appeared that CBI has established there was meeting between Waze, Deshmukh and Deshmukh's personal secretary Sanjeev Palande.
"The factum of demand and collection of money from bar owner or establishment is well corroborated and established. Handing over of collected bribe money to accused Kundan Shinde (Deshmukh's personal assistant and co-accused) for and on behalf of Anil Deshmukh is also established through confessional statement of Sachin Waze and the circumstances surrounding it," special CBI judge S H Gwalani said.
The pleas of Deshmukh (73) and Palande (52) were rejected on Friday. In CBI's case, Deshmukh is accused of ordering Waze to illegally collect Rs 100 crore from orchestra bar owners in the city every month as protection money. It is also alleged Palande and Shinde facilitated the collection. Deshmukh was first arrested in a related money laundering case by the ED on November 2, 2021. He was subsequently arrested by CBI.
In the bail order, the judge also said the chats of ACP Sanjay Patil with then police commissioner Param Bir Singh were relevant. The court said Patil admitted to the WhatsApp chats between himself and Singh in which there is specific reference to the "HM sir" and that it was "HM Sir and Palande" who had mentioned about collection of money from city bars.
"Thus, the statement of Sanjay Patil makes it unambiguously clear that collection of extortion money was being carried out at the instance of the then home minister (accused No 1, Deshmukh)," the judge said. The judge did not accept the defence contention that there were contradictory statements and it was Singh who was "No 1" at whose behest money was being collected. "'No.1' has been further explained by Sanjay Patil and Waze in their statements that the commissioner of police was used to be termed as "King"," the judge said.
The court said chats and other evidence showed Palande was consciously aware that collection from orchestra bars and other establishments was going on. "This also corroborates the fact that Anil Deshmukh had asked Sanjeev Palande to look into issue of collection from orchestra bars," the judge said.