Anil Vasantrao Deshmukh is a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader, who resigned as the Maharashtra home minister on Monday. The 70-year-old politician has been accused of corruption by former Mumbai Police chief Param Bir Singh. The corruption allegations will now be probed by the Central Bureau Investigation (CBI) following the order issued by the Bombay High Court.

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Deshmukh represents the Kotal Vidhan Sabha constituency and has been a member of the 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th and 14th Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.

He has formerly served as the Minister of Food & Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Minister of Information and Public Relations, Minister of Public Works Department, Minister of State for School Education, Minister of State for Sports & Youth Affairs and Minister of State for Education and Culture.

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Deshmukh, who hails from Maharashtra’s Nagpur district, holds a master of science degree in Agriculture. 

His career began with him winning Katol as an independent candidate in 1995. Deshmukh joined the NCP in 1999 and headed several ministries in the NCP-Congress alliance-led Maharashtra government.

In the 2014 assembly elections, Deshmukh was defeated by his nephew, Ashish Deshmukh, from Katol. Although, he gained the seat in the 2019 assembly polls and went on to become a cabinet minister in Shiv Sena leader and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray-led government.

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Deshmukh adopted a girl, Varsha, from ‘Shri Shankar Baba Papalkar’s ashram’. He performed her kanyadaan (a Hindu ritual) during her wedding.