The Bombay High Court has transferred Additional Sessions Judge HS Satbhai, who had been hearing the Enforcement Directorate’s remand applications against former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, Bar and Bench reported on Tuesday.

Satbhai has been transferred to Kelapur town in Yavatmal district of eastern Maharashtra. The order, issued by the High Court’s Registrar General MH Chandwani, cited administrative reasons for the transfer.

Judge Satbhai was appointed as a special judge to hear cases pertaining to MPs and MLAs in July 2021. On Monday, he had remanded Deshmukh to judicial custody for 14 days, according to PTI.

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In March, former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh had accused Deshmukh of coercing police officers to extort money on his behalf from the owners of bars and restaurants in the city.

The Central Bureau of Investigation is looking into allegations against Deshmukh of exercising “undue influence” over the transfer and postings of police officers. On October 31, it had arrested an alleged middleman in connection with the money laundering and corruption case.

The Enforcement Directorate is investigating Deshmukh based on the CBI inquiry. The central agency has claimed that more than Rs 4 crore collected from bar owners in Mumbai between December and February was routed to Deshmukh’s charitable trust in Nagpur through four shell companies in Delhi.

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Satbhai had also been hearing a corruption case related to the construction of the Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi, in which state minister Chhagan Bhujbal is one of the accused. In September, he had discharged Bhujbal from the case, observing that there was no substantial material to suggest that he or his relatives relatives any illegal gratification in connection with the contract for the Maharashtra Sadan building.

He had also been hearing a petition for pre-arrest bail of former Shiv Sena MP Anand Adsul, who is accused of being involved in an alleged scam in a co-operative bank.