ED raids house of lawyer-activist Satish Uikey

Uikey is a known bête noire of former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and has filed a few petitions against him.

A team of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided the house of Nagpur-based lawyer-cum-RTI-activist Satish Uikey on Thursday morning.

Satish Uikey being taken to the local ED office for further questioning in Nagpur on Thursday. HT PHOTO

Uikey is a known bête noire of former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and has filed a few petitions against him. Uikey is also the counsel of state Congress chief Nana Patole, who sought a fresh probe into the death of justice BH Loya (who was hearing the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case).

About 10 ED officials, along with a dozen armed Central Reserve Police Force jawans, went to Uikey’s Parvati Nagar residence around 5 am. After searching for over five hours and questioning him, the officials seized several documents, including a few pen drives and laptop, and detained him and his brother Pradip around 11 am. Both were taken to the local ED office for further questioning.

Though the reason behind the ED action could not be ascertained, sources said ED was looking for documents related to alleged illegal land transfer transactions. A complaint relating to a property deal against Uikey was lodged at Ajni police station a few months ago. The local crime branch had interrogated him a few weeks ago.

Uikey has been in the news for levelling allegations against Fadnavis and filing multiple petitions against him in the recent past. He claimed that Fadnavis had failed to disclose two pending criminal cases against him in his affidavit filed during the 2014 elections. Setting aside the Bombay HC verdict exonerating him, a Supreme Court bench comprising then CJI Ranjan Gogoi and justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose remitted the matter to the trial court for fresh consideration.

On December 4 last year, a lower court at Nagpur framed charges against Fadnavis, leader of the opposition in the assembly, in connection with this case. While Judicial Magistrate First Class VM Deshmukh said that prima facie an offence was made out against Fadnavis, the latter pleaded not guilty.

However, he was granted exemption from personal appearance in the court and advocate Uday Dable was present on his behalf. Uikey also filed another petition against Fadnavis citing discrepancies in his 2019 poll affidavit.

But even Uikey is known to have dubious credentials as a land grabber and faces many serious offences. He has also been convicted by the Nagpur bench of Bombay high court in a suo motu contempt proceedings for two months. The Supreme Court confirmed the conviction.

Surprisingly, he somehow managed to escape conviction and the jail term. The apex court did not implement its own order passed in criminal appeal no 1425/2017 and review petition (criminal) no 445 of 2017.

Meanwhile, two more contempt proceedings have been initiated against Uikey and higher courts had deprecated him for bench hunting and for hurling reckless allegations against the judicial system. Sources said Uikey was known to fabricate records and hurling baseless allegations against authorities on the basis of fraudulent and bogus documents.

Uilkey’s brother, Shekhar, alleged that his brother was targeted because he went vocal against the Narendra Modi government and Fadnavis. “The ED raid was conducted to silence him,” he said. For the last few years, Uikey has also been filing petitions in court against several BJP leaders, including state BJP general secretary and former Maharashtra minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule.

Uikey also met Shiv Sena spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut last week during the latter’s Nagpur visit.

Reacting to the ED action against Uikey, Patole accused the Modi government of misusing central agencies like ED and CBI against political opponents. “Uikey was targeted because he was vocal against BJP and its leaders,” he alleged.

Meanwhile, the district bar association condemned the ED action against Uikey, whom they described as a whistleblower lawyer. Advocate Nihal Singh Rathod of the association said the action against Uikey was initiated because he was known for raising voice against BJP and Sangh Parivar.

“He, as a lawyer, recently sued senior IPS officer Rashmi Shukla over illegal phone-tapping charges. He has sued Fadnavis in a personal capacity. He is also leading an election petition against BJP lawmakers. He has been targeted by the BJP government at the Centre,” Rathod said, adding that these were times when investigating agencies had lost their credibility by their own dubious conduct.

Rathod said the action was a clear exhibition of vengeful use of power by BJP and Sangh Parivaar. “We stand in solidarity with Uikey and condemn this dictatorial action,” he said.