BJP’s Kirit Somaiya lodges complaint against Maharashtra minister Hasan Mushrif

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kirit Somaiya has lodged a complaint against Maharashtra rural development minister Hasan Mushrif with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Mumbai on Tuesday.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kirit Somaiya has lodged a complaint against Maharashtra rural development minister Hasan Mushrif with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Mumbai on Tuesday. Somaiya has accused the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) minister of ₹100-crore corruption in Appasaheb Nalawade sugar factory at Kolhapur’s Gadhinglaj through a private firm allegedly owned by his relative.

BJP’s Kirit Somaiya has accused Maharashtra minister Hasan Mushrif of ₹100-crore corruption in Appasaheb Nalawade sugar factory at Kolhapur’s Gadhinglaj through a private firm allegedly owned by his relative. Mushrif, a senior NCP leader from Kolhapur in western Maharashtra, rubbished the allegations. (Hindustan Times)

In his complaint to ED, Somaiya has said that the sugar factory was taken over by Brics India Private Limited, in which Mateem Hasin Mangoli, the minister’s relative is a benami owner. He said that the sugar factory was given to Brics to operate for 10 years in 2014 without following any bidding process. Somaiya said that 7,185 shares of the sugar factory are held by SU Corporation, a shell company used by Mushrif to park the money, while 998 shares each are held by Mangoli and a man named Gulam Hussain. He said that 98% shares of the sugar factory are held by the Mushrif family.

Mushrif, a senior NCP leader from Kolhapur in western Maharashtra, rubbished the allegations.

“The sugar factory in question had been taken over by Brics in 2012 till 2020 and is now being run on cooperative basis by more than 60,000 farmers as its shareholders. The Maharashtra State Central Cooperative Bank had refused to hand over the factory to any private entity. The sugar factory is debt-free now. Neither has my son-in-law [Mangoli] nor do I have anything to do with the factory or Brics. I have been helping the factory as a local legislator,” he said.

Mushrif said that he has welcomed Somaiya to visit Kolhapur and was ready to provide him every detail related to the firms. He said he was being targeted because he turned down BJP’s offer to join the party ahead of the 2019 Assembly polls.

Somaiya has alleged that the minister diverted his illegal money earned after becoming the minister in 2019 to the sugar factory. This is the second set of allegations by Somaiya against Mushrif. Earlier, he had accused the minister of laundering ₹127 crore through Senapati Santaji Ghorpade sugar factory.

“SU Corporation, in which other relatives of the minister are shareholders, hold shares in Brics. Sikandar Desai, a director of SU Corporation, is also the director in CRM Systems and Marubhumi Finance and Developers Pvt Ltd. These three companies are involved in money laundering and benami transactions done in Senapati Santaji Ghorpade sugar factory,” he has stated in the complaint.

NCP spokesperson Mahesh Tapase questioned over Somaiya’s silence on the corruption cases against BJP leaders Kripa Shankar Singh, Narayan Rane, Vijaykumar Gavit and Babanrao Pachpute.

“Somaiya had levelled allegations of corruption against these leaders when they were in other parties. He does not utter a word about those cases now as they are in BJP. Why is he silent about those cases,” he questioned.