Mumbai(Maharashtra): In yet another spree of raids, the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday carried out raids at multiple locations in Pune, Dapoli and Mumbai as part of a money-laundering probe against Shiv Sena leader and state transport minister Anil Parab and others. The raids are reportedly in linkage to alleged irregularities in a land deal in the coastal Dapoli area of Ratnagiri district and other charges, as informed by the officials.
Around seven places, including Parab's residence in Mumbai, as well as linked premises in Dapoli and Pune are being searched by the agency with a security escort provided by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). The minister was at his residence when the raids were launched, as confirmed by the sources.
The federal agency filed a fresh case under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), pertaining to allegations of purchase of a land portion Dapoli in 2017 for a consideration of Rs 1 crore by Parab. However, it was allegedly registered two years later, in 2019. There are some other charges too against the Minister that the agency is currently probing.
Further allegations also imply that the land was subsequently sold to a Mumbai-based cable operator Sadanand Kadam in 2020 for a consideration of Rs 1.10 crore. In between, a resort was built on the same land from 2017 to 2020. These allegations were made by the Income Tax Department following similar raids conducted in March against people close to Parab including Kadam and deputy regional transport officer (RTO) Bajrang Kharmate.
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In a statement issued in March, the CBDT had clarified that the construction of the resort started in 2017 and over Rs 6 crore was spent in cash on it. "It transpires that the relevant facts about the construction of the resort were not intimated to the Registration authorities and accordingly, the stamp duty was paid only for the registration of the land on both the occasions i.e. in 2019 and in 2020," it said.
The cost of construction of the same has not been accounted for either by the person searched (Kadam) or the politician (Parab) in their books of account, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the administrative body for the tax department, had said.
In yet another case, the ED had questioned Parab in September last year, pertaining to the money laundering case linked to former home minister and NCP leader Anil Deshmukh. Moreover, Former police officer Sachin Waze, who was arrested by the National Investigation Agency in the case of recovery of an explosives-laden SUV near industrialist Mukesh Ambani's house in Mumbai, had levelled certain allegations against Parab.
In a letter, which he sought to submit before a court, Waze had claimed that in January 2021, Parab asked him to carry out an inquiry against "fraudulent" contractors listed in the Mumbai civic body and "collect" at least Rs 2 crore from about 50 such contractors. Parab had then rejected Waze's claims and said he was ready to face any probe into the allegations.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in the state led by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has alleged that central probe agencies, including the ED, have been targeting politicians and families from their parties at the behest of the BJP-led government at the Centre. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders have said that the agencies were doing their job independently and acting only on the basis of evidence. (With Agency Inputs)
