Maharashtra: ED Seizes Properties Belonging To CM Uddhav's Brother-In-Law, MVA Slams Centre

According to media reports, ED attached movable properties worth Rs 6.45 crore of Thackeray's brother-in-law Shridhar Madhav Patankar.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. (File Photo/ PTI)

Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday seized assets of over Rs 6 crore of a company owned by brother-in-law of Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray in a money laundering case, news agency PTI reported.

According to media reports, ED attached movable properties worth Rs 6.45 crore of Thackeray's brother-in-law Shridhar Madhav Patankar.

The central agency has also sealed as many as 11 residential flats in Neelambari project in Maharashtra's Thane belonging to Shree Saibaba Grihanirmiti Pvt. Ltd (owned by Patankar).

As an official statement, the Enforcement Directorate said it has issued a provisional order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to attach 11 residential flats in Neelambari project, located in Thane near Mumbai, of Shree Saibaba Grihanirmiti Private Limited.

Shridhar Madhav Patankar, the brother of Thackeray's wife Rashmi, "owns and controls" Shree Saibaba Grihanirmiti Private Limited, it said.

Furthermore, the agency accused Patankar of being involved in a money laundering case and siphoning off funds which were "parked" in the real estate projects of Shree Saibaba Grihanirmiti Pvt. Ltd.

Currently, a case is being investigated against a company named Pushpak Bullion. 

MVA Slams Modi Govt For 'Using Central Agencies'

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said that ED has been taking tremendous actions in states where BJP is not in power.

"Shridhar Madhav Patankar is our family member, his relation is not limited to Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray. Looks like ED has closed its office in other big states, like Gujarat. Everything is happening in Maharashtra. Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee is also being harassed. But neither Bengal will bow, nor Maharashtra will break," he told reporters.

"Maharashtra's public knows well about the Thackeray family... this is a dangerous start of dictatorship. Winning in 4 states doesn't make you the ruler of the country. We're ready to go into jails but we're also ready to fight for freedom for this country's democracy,"he added.

Meanwhile, reacting to the development, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar slammed the government and said that Central agencies were being misused for political interests.

"Till a few years ago most people didn't know about ED, but today it's being misused so much that even people in villages know about it," he told reporters.

The development comes days after Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government alleged that central probe agencies, including ED, were "given targets" by the Centre to work in a vindictive manner against the Maharashtra government.

Earlier, ED had arrested former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh Nawab Malik in separate money laundering cases. A Special PMLA has extended the judicial custody of Malik by 14 days till April 4. 

The 62-year-old politician was arrested in a pre-dawn swoop on February 23 by ED in connection with an alleged money-laundering case arising out of a tainted land deal involving the mafia don Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar.