ED remand of Eknath Khadse’s son-in-law extended till July 20

A special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court on Monday extended Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) custody of Girish Chaudhari, son-in-law of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Eknath Khadse, till Tuesday

A special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court on Monday extended Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) custody of Girish Chaudhari, son-in-law of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Eknath Khadse, till Tuesday. Chaudhari has been arrested by the central agency in the money laundering case registered by it connection with the Bhosari land deal.

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ED on Monday produced Chaudhari before the special court as his earlier custody remand ended.

The agency, on August 28, 2019, booked Khadse, his wife Mandakani, Chaudhari and the owner of the land, Abbas Rasalbhai Ukani, in a money laundering case.

ED’s enforcement case information report is based on a first information report (FIR) filed by Maharashtra anti-corruption bureau (ACB) against the Khadse family in 2017. ACB had later closed the case, but ED continued its investigation into the alleged financial irregularities in the land deal.

The case pertains to the purchase of a 1.31-hectare plot at Bhosari village in Haveli taluka of Pune district on April 28, 2016 by Chaudhari and Mandakini for ₹3.75 crore, against the market value of ₹31 crore. ACB had alleged that Khadse and the other two had caused loss of ₹61.25 crore to the state exchequer by dealing with the land.

In its remand application seeking extension in Chaudhari’s custody, ED had earlier stated that the piece of land was already acquired by Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) back in 1971, which developed and allotted it for different industries.

It was further alleged that Chaudhari had purchased the land after securing finance of ₹2 crore from a company named Benchmark Buildcon Private Limited. During investigation, ED recorded statement of Benchmark Buildcon’s former director Manjunath Omkar on Tuesday. In his statement Omkar claimed he was offered ₹15,000 salary per month for becoming the director and that he has never seen any work being carried by Benchmark Buildcon and that it was just a paper company.

“The source of funds for purchase the said land is not genuine and it has been routed through various companies. These companies which are used by Chaudhari to channelise funds for the purchase of the said land are nothing but shell companies which were used for layering of funds,” ED had claimed in its earlier remand application.