In 2017 case, ED attaches ₹6.5 crore assets linked to Uddhav Thackeray’s kin

Maharashtra’s ruling Shiv Sena said the ED action against a construction firm run by chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s brother -in-law was vendetta. “We do not think we can expect justice from the courts in this atmosphere, but the public court is bigger,” said Sanjay Raut.

MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday provisionally attached immovable properties worth ₹6.45 crore of a company owned and controlled by Shridhar Madhav Patankar, brother-in-law of Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray. The federal agency said that Patankar’s construction firm Shree Saibaba Grihanirmiti Pvt. Ltd was used to park ₹30 crore by Nandkishore Chaturvedi who allegedly opens shell companies to launder money.

The attachment of assets worth ₹6.45 crore of a firm run by Shridhar Madhav Patankar, brother-in-law of Maharashtra chief minister and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, provoked a sharp denial by the Shiv Sena (Vijayanand Gupta/HT File Photo)

Patankar is the brother of Uddhav Thackeray’s wife Rashmi.

The assets attached by ED include 11 flats in a newly constructed building, Neelambari – a high rise at Vartak Nagar in Thane constructed by Shree Saibaba Grihanirmiti, owned and controlled by Patankar, ED said in a statement on Tuesday.

ED’s action against Patankar has come in connection with a money laundering case registered by the agency against M/s. Pushpak Bullion, a Pushpak Group company on March 6, 2017.

The agency had earlier provisionally attached immovable and movable properties of Pushpak Bullion to the tune of ₹21.46 crore belonging to Mahesh Patel, Chandrakant Patel, their family members and companies controlled by them.

“Subsequent investigation (in the 2017 case) revealed that Mahesh Patel had siphoned off and layered funds of a Pushpak group concern, Pushpak Realty, in connivance with one accommodation entry provider Nandkishore Chaturvedi. Pushpak Realty in the garb of sale, transferred funds to the tune of ₹20.02 crore to the entities (shell companies) controlled by Chaturvedi after layering the funds through various connected/unconnected entities,” said the statement.

Chaturvedi, who allegedly operates a number of shell companies, further transferred the money through his shell company Humsafar Dealer Private Limited in the garb of extending unsecured loans in excess of ₹30 crore to Shree Saibaba Grihanirmiti Pvt. Ltd., the release said further.

“Thus, the money siphoned off by Mahesh Patel in connivance with Chaturvedi was parked in the real estate projects by Shree Saibaba Grihanirmiti Pvt. Ltd.”

“Shridhar Madhav Patankar is not just a relative of Rashmi and Uddhav Thackeray. He is our family member as well. I got to know that ED has taken some action. The central investigating agencies are taking action in states where they are not in power,” said Shiv Sena MP and chief spokesperson for the party, Sanjay Raut.

“If they think that by creating pressure on the key pillars of Maha Vikas Aghadi, the government will collapse or President’s rule can be imposed, then they need to wake up. We will fight against their political vendetta and expose them before the public. We do not think we can expect justice from the courts in this atmosphere, but the public court is bigger. The people of the state know the Thackeray family. Someday they will have to pay for the action taken with a vendetta,” Raut added.