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Pune land deal case: ED files charge-sheet against Eknath Khadse’s son-in-law
The case pertains to the purchase of a plot at Bhosari village in Haveli taluka on April 28, 2016, by Khadse’s kin for ₹3.75 crore against the prevalent market rate of ₹31 crore
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday filed a prosecution complaint or charge sheet in the Bhosari (Pune) land deal case against the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Eknath Khadse’s son-in-law Girish Chaudhari. Chaudhari was arrested by ED on July 7 in connection with the case.
Lawyer for the Khadse family, advocate Mohan Tekavade, said that he has not yet seen the charge sheet and would offer comments only after perusing it.
The case pertains to the purchase of a plot at Bhosari village in Haveli taluka on April 28, 2016, by Khadse’s kin for ₹3.75 crore against the prevalent market rate of ₹31 crore.
ED’s case is based on a first information report (FIR) by Maharashtra anti-corruption bureau (ACB) against the Khadses in 2017. ACB later closed the case, but ED continued its probe into the alleged financial irregularities in the land deal.
The plot’s ownership was contentious as the industries department acquired it in 1971, but the final award of the land was not made, and the owner had not been compensated for it.
According to ED, Khadse and his family, despite having knowledge that the plot was reserved for Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), fraudulently purchased it so as to obtain compensation from MIDC, about thrice its market value. Last month ED had attached properties worth ₹5.73 crore belonging to Khadse and his family including a bungalow, flats and seven land parcels worth ₹4.86 crore in Jalgaon and Lonavala. Bank balance worth ₹86.28 lakh was also frozen. Khadse and his family are accused of defrauding the exchequer of ₹61.25 crore.
Khadse’s wife Mandakani and the Bhosari land’s owner Abbas Rasalbhai Ukani were also booked in the case by ED on August 28, 2019.
Khadse has claimed ED was set after him because he left the BJP.
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