India, Feb. 13 -- A Special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court last week rejected a plea filed by former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh, seeking deferment of framing of charges against him in the money laundering case related to alleged extortion from orchestra bars in Mumbai, until charges are framed in the predicate offence registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Special judge Mahesh K Jadhav also rejected Deshmukh's plea for calling a status report from the CBI as regards remaining investigation in the scheduled offence.

Deshmukh's counsel said the predicate offence had culminated in a chargesheet filed by the CBI in June 2022, which stated that the investigation in respect of two aspects was on...