Mumbai, Sep 6 (IANS): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is understood to have issued a 'lookout' circular against former Maharashtra Home Minister and senior Nationalist Congress Party leader Anil Deshmukh, officials said.

The notice is issued in connection with the alleged Rs 100-crore corruption and laundering case lodged against him.

The 'lookout' circular will effectively prevent Deshmukh from fleeing the country since he has skipped at least five ED summons to join the probe.

Officials also say that it's only a matter of time before Deshmukh faces arrest in the cases filed against him following the complaint lodged by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh.

The Supreme Court has declined any interim protection to Deshmukh from coercive action by the ED or CBI.

Last week, Deshmukh -- who quit from the Uddhav Thackeray cabinet in April -- moved the Bombay High Court, where the matter is pending hearing.

The central agencies are tightening the noose on Deshmukh, with the arrest of his lawyer and an aide last week in connection with the leak of a CBI's purported preliminary inquiry report which sought to give him a clean-chit, and both agencies have raided him in Mumbai and Nagpur.