The Enforcement Directorate ED on Monday searched the premises of Deputy Regional Transport Officer Bajrang Kharmate in connection with its investigation against Maharashtra Transport Minister Anil Parab.
Parab has been asked to appear before the ED on Tuesday. Kharmate works in the transport ministry under Parab.
Sources have said that the probe against Parab is part of a larger investigation into the allegations of corruption and money laundering against former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh. The probe against Deshmukh began following allegations of extortion made by former Mumbai police commissioner Parambir Singh and former Mumbai Police officer Sachin Waze, who is currently being probed in the Ambani terror case.
Last week, Parab was caught on camera directing the police to arrest Union Minister Narayan Rane.
Parab has come under the ED scanner after Waze, in a letter he tried to submit to the NIA court, had claimed that the state transport minister had asked him to carry out extortion to the tune of Rs 50 crore from a private trust.
He also alleged that Parab told him to look into the inquiry against the fraudulent contractors listed in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and asked him to collect “at least Rs 2 crore” from about 50 such contractors.
Apart from this, Gajendra Patil, a suspended motor vehicle inspector of the Nashik Regional Transport Office, had also accused Parab and six officers of corruption, amounting to multiple crores, in connection with transfers and postings in the RTO.
Parab has denied all the allegations.
