The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has resisted former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh’s appeal in a special court for permission to be transferred to a private hospital for surgery.
The special court in Mumbai will rule on the case on Tuesday under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The motion, submitted on behalf of the former minister by attorneys Aniket Nikam and Inderpal Singh, alleged that Deshmukh, 74, is suffering from numerous diseases and has been imprisoned for the last six months. He injured his shoulder after falling in prison last month. Deshmukh intended to have surgery performed by a doctor of his choosing at the state-run JJ Hospital.
They also stated that there is one test that the JJ hospital has stated cannot be performed at the state-run institution.
In a response submitted through its assistant director Tassine Sultan, the central agency requested that Deshmukh’s application be denied, claiming that private healthcare was unnecessary.
The ED relied on information from JJ Hospital’s director of cardiology, who stated that there was no association between the “stress thallium test” and shoulder surgery in Deshmukh’s case because the test was solely performed to rule out “cardiac ischemia.”
Deshmukh was detained by the central agency on November 2, last year, in connection with suspicions of money laundering and bribes obtained from restaurant and bar owners and reportedly routed through hawala to his personal trust.