Mumbai:A man wanted by the Enforcement Directorate in a 'cash-for-votes' case-linked money laundering investigation in Maharashtra has been apprehended at the Ahmedabad International Airport, official sources said on Wednesday.
Nagani Akram Mohammad Shafi was intercepted by immigration authorities at the airport in neighbouring Gujarat on the basis of a lookout circular (LOC) issued by the ED. He was "trying to flee" to Dubai, they said.
The central agency conducted searches in poll-bound Maharashtra and Gujarat last week in the case registered against a Malegaon-based trader, Siraj Ahmed Harun Meman, who allegedly misused bank accounts of various people to carry out transactions worth more than Rs 100 crore.
Polling for the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly began at 7 am on Wednesday and will continue till 6 pm. The money laundering case stems from a November 7 Malegaon Police FIR filed against Meman, who runs a tea and cold drinks agency, and some of his associates.
The complainant in the case is a man whose bank account was allegedly misused for illegal transactions, triggering speculation that the accounts were misused for routing election funds. Shafi, according to the sources, was among those persons on whose instructions Meman opened over a dozen bank accounts and also allegedly transferred funds worth Rs 14 crore through hawala.
Maharashtra BJP leader Kirit Somaiya had flagged this case in Malegaon, calling it a case of "vote jihad scam" wherein cash was allegedly given to voters in exchange for their votes in the assembly polls.
