Aaditya Thackeray's close aide Suraj Chavan arrested by ED in ‘khichdi' scam

The Enforcement Directorate ED on Wednesday arrested Suraj Chavan a close aide of Shiv Sena UBT leader Aditya Thackeray in connection with the 637 crore Khichdi scam sources saidThe ED had initiated a money laundering case based on the FIR filed by Mumbai Economic Offense Wing EOW After months of investigation the EOW and the ED recorded Chavanrsquos statement multiple times leading to his arrestIn September last year the EOW initiated an FIR against six individuals for alleged misappropriation of R637 crore and financial irregularities related to BMCs contract for distributing khichdi to migrant workers during the pandemic The FIR registered at the Agripada police station names Sujit Patkar a close associate of Sanjay Raut Sunil alias Bala Kadam Rajeev Salunkhe of Sahyadri Refreshments employees of Force One Multi Services Sneha Catererrsquos partners and an assistant municipal commissioner planning along with other unidentified BMC officialsAccording to the FIR the contract was intended for a company equipped with the necessary kitchens and certifications from health and related departments to prepare khichdi for 5000 people daily However the contracts were awarded to Sahyadri Refreshments and Vaishnavi Kitchen neither of which possessed these requirements and they subsequently subcontracted the work Similarly Force One lacked the necessary kitchen facilities and subcontracted the production of khichdi The FIR also suggests that as per the contract each packet of khichdi was supposed to weigh 300 grams but the accused parties provided packets weighing only 100200 grams to migrant workersAs per the sources in EOW During the pandemic Chavans income saw a 400 per cent increase in April 2020 while working as a consultant for Force One Multi Services Earlier he earned just Rs 75000 per month but during the peak of the pandemic the figure increased to R3 lakh as Khichdi consultationAccording to sources Chavan was tasked with administrative work and using political connections to secure contracts during the pandemic They also indicated that in addition to Chavan Patkar received Rs 46 lakh from Sahyadri Refreshments as consultancy fees for khichdi production deposited into his firms account Another individual under scrutiny in this case is Amol Kirtikar who is associated with Shiv Sena UBT and the son of Lok Sabha member Gajanan Kirtikar whorsquos affiliated with the Shiv Sena Shinde faction The EOW has uncovered that Amol assisted Force One Multi Services in obtaining contracts and received approximately R85 lakh which is currently under investigationChavan will be produced before the ED court on Thursday for his custodial interrogation The ED sources have said that during the course of investigation and his stamens chavan failed to provide satisfactory response and hence he has been arrested for custodial interrogation