As part of the probe into an alleged money laundering case involving a piece of land in Bhosari, Pune, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth Rs.5.73 crore belonging to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) politician Eknath Khadse and his family. Bungalows, apartments, and plots in Jalgaon and Lonavala are included in the connected assets. The lawmaker and his family are accused of stealing 61.25 crores from the government coffers.
The complaint was filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act after Khadse’s clan paid 3.75 crores for land in Bhosari village in Haveli taluka on April 28, 2016, compared to the market estimate of 31 crores. The ED previously questioned Khadse in January and July of this year. In connection with the investigation, the ED detained his son-in-law Girish Chaudhary in July.
On August 28, 2019, the ED arrested Khadse’s wife Mandakini and Abbas Rasalbhai Ukani Bhosari, the owner of the Bhosari property. The ED’s case stems from a 2017 FIR filed by the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) against the Khadse family. The ACB eventually closed the matter, but the ED pursued the suspected financial irregularities in the land purchase.
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The plot ownership was disputed since it was purchased by the industries department in 1971, but no formal award of the land was made, and the owner was not paid. According to the ED’s case, despite knowing that the plot was reserved for the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), Khadse and his family fraudulently purchased it. According to the ED, Khadse, as revenue minister at the time, mobilized the MIDC revenue officer to purchase the land so that his family could make a compensation claim for the parcel.
When ED authorities questioned Chaudhari about the source of funds for the land acquisition, he stated he had taken a loan of Rs 2 crore from Benchmark Buildcon Private Limited since he had known the firm’s principal director since 2003-04. However, when the ED examined Benchmark Buildcon Private Limited’s balance sheet, it was discovered that the firm had no operational revenue in 2014-15 and 2015-16 and only produced a total of 1.5 lakh in 2016-17.
The company also received money from five other companies (Proficient Merchandise Ltd, Abjayoni Trading Pvt Ltd, Adamina Traders, Chemexgoods Pvt Ltd, and Pearl Dealers Pvt Ltd). It transferred it to Chaudhari, according to the investigation. According to ED, these five firms merely exist on paper and are shell corporations used to stack money. According to the federal agency, this demonstrates that the source of the cash for the acquisition of the land above is not legitimate and has been channeled via several businesses by Chaudhari.
Khadse was reportedly engaged in the unlawful acquisition of Bhosari land as well as the falsification of paperwork at the registration office, according to ED officers. ED authorities believe he was involved in the alleged abuse of power and misuse of his official position as the then-revenue minister, pushing the registration officials to record the plot’s market value as 3.75 crores.
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“It’s a politically driven case,” Khadse, who defected from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to join the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) last year, said. Five agencies had already investigated the identical matter and found no evidence against me. I’m willing to work with ED.” He had previously stated that the case’s investigations, including those conducted by the ACB and the IRS, had discovered no abnormalities in the transaction. He further alleged that the federal agency was hunting him down since he defected from the BJP to the NCP.
