NCP leader Eknath Khadse appears before ED in money laundering case probe

Former Maharashtra revenue minister and NCP leader Eknath Khadse on Thursday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate here in a money laundering case investigation a day after his soninlaw was arrested by the federal agencyKhadse 68 told reporters outside the Enforcement Directorate ED zonal office in Ballard Estate area of south Mumbai that the probe in the case is politically motivatedI will cooperate with the agencytoday also I have come for the same This is a politically motivated case and entire Maharashtra and the country is seeing thisEnquiry has been done five times in this case How many times will they do it he saidThe agency had summoned Khadse to depose and record his statement after it arrested his soninlaw Girish Chaudhari on Wednesday in this case that is linked to a 2016 instance of an alleged government land grab case in PuneThe Nationalist Congress Party NCP leader who left the BJP to join the Sharad Pawarled party last year has been once questioned by the ED in this case in January this yearThe ED case stems from a Pune police anticorruption bureau ACB FIR filed against Khadse his wife Mandakini and Chaudhari in April 2017The agency claimed that alleged irregularities in the land deal caused a loss of Rs 6125 crore to the exchequer by fraudulently entering into a sale deedThe plot owned by staterun MIDC under the scanner is located in the Haveli Taluka of Bhosari a suburb of Pune district and it bears the survey no 522A2The ED had issued a statement on Wednesday to describe the alleged role of Chaudhari in the deal saying with the connivance of others he knowingly entered into a sale deed to acquire the said land despite the land belonging to the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation MIDC to avail a compensation more than 253 times of the actual value of landThe land was registered at a much lower rate of only Rs 375 crore against the prevailing value of Rs 31 crore it had claimedThe ED said the probe found that the accused claimed the source of fund to purchase the said property as loan from some companiesHowever it is revealed that these funds were layered and routed through shell companies which are either dysfunctional or struck off from the government record books later on it allegedKhadse the then state revenue minister had resigned from the former chief minister Devendra Fadnavisled Maharashtra cabinet in 2016 after facing allegations regarding the same land deal and some other issuesIt was alleged that he misused his official powers to facilitate this dealKhadse had denied any wrongdoing saying that the state police ACB as well as the Income Tax Department had given him a clean chit in the matterThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever