Iqbal Mirchi case: ED’s attachment of Worli properties linked to Prafulla Patel confirmed

The adjudicating authority under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) has confirmed the attachment of several units at Worli’s Ceejay House, which are owned by NCP leader Praful Patel and his family, an officer from the agency said on Wednesday

The adjudicating authority under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) has confirmed the attachment of several units at Worli’s Ceejay House, which are owned by NCP leader Praful Patel and his family, an officer from the agency said on Wednesday.

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The building was constructed by Patel’s firm, Millennium Developers Private Limited, in 2006-07.

Last July, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had provisionally attached the units located on the 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th floor as part of its probe in a money laundering case involving former gangster Iqbal Mirchi. Patel, a former aviation minister, also has his primary residence at Ceejay House. It is, however, not clear if the apartment he lives in has also been seized.

ED had in 2019 attached another two floors which belonged to the Mirchi family. Iqbal Mirchi, a key member of Dawood Ibrahim gang, had died in London in 2013.

“Mirchi was an international drugs dealer and smuggler who amassed huge wealth and acquired various immovable properties worth hundreds of crores of rupees and businesses across the globe. After an investigation under PMLA, the agency started attaching his properties in India,” ED said.

The agency claimed that these properties in India were acquired by Mirchi in the name of his family members and relatives. Millennium Developers had transferred the 3rd and 4th floor to Mirchi’s wife, Hazra Iqbal, in 2007 “towards Mirchi’s beneficial interest in the land” on which the building was situated, ED said.

Patel was questioned by the agency in October 2019. Soon after he held a press briefing where he denied any links with the Mirchi family and claimed that all the property dealings at Ceejay House were legitimate.

ED has so far attached assets worth more than ₹800 crore linked to Mirchi in India and abroad. Five people were arrested in the case in 2020 and the matter is pending before the special PMLA court in Mumbai.