Ranjit Mahanti
THE Income Tax (I-T) department on Thursday, February 8, 2024, conducted raids at the residence of former Mumbai Police Inspector Pradeep Sharma, retired IAS officer Nirmal Deshmukh, and a construction company, Star Wing, owned by Rajeev Dubey.
According to the I-T department sources, the raids were conducted after a tax evasion issue came up during a probe into the Star Wing Company, having an office at Andheri’s Marol area. Pradeep Sharma and Nirmal Deshmukh have financial connections with it.
Pradeep Sharma was a notorious Inspector in the Mumbai police. He was accused in the Antilia Explosive Plant case and was arrested for the murder conspiracy of Mansukh Hiren. Earlier, he was arrested in the fake encounter matter of Lakhan Gupta, alias Lakhan Bhaiya, and was dismissed from the Mumbai police service. He had contested the Maharashtra Assembly elections in 2019 on a Shiv Sena ticket from Nalasopara, and had lost the polls.
Rajeev Dubey is the son of Ramesh Dubey, a former Shiv Sena Minister in Maharashtra. Ramesh Dubey is a two-time MLA in Mumbai and one-time MP from Uttar Pradesh on a Bahujan Samaj Party ticket.
Nirmal Deshmukh was Chief of the Slum Rehabilitation Authority [SRA] and Dharavi Redevelopment Authority [DRA].