New Delhi: Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Wasle Patil said on Wednesday that there will be an investigation into the links between independent MP Navneet Rana and builder-film financier Yusuf Lakdawala, news agency ANI reported.
Patil's statement came after Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut’s claim that Rana took a loan of Rs 80 lakhs from Lakdawala who was arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police in a money laundering case and later died in lockup in September 2021.
“Navneet Rana recvd a LOAN of ₹80 lacs frm Yusuf Lakdawala who died in Jail rcntly. The same Lakdawala ws arrestd by @dir_ed in a money laundrng case & hs links wth D gang. My questn is- Has ED investigatd ths mattr? Ths is a questn of nationl security!” Raut tweeted late Tuesday night.
He further dropped speculations of an underworld connection in the Hanuman Chalisa Row which got the Rana couple arrested by the police on April 23. According to a report by news agency PTI, Raut related the Hanuman Chalisa recitals with the 1993 serial blasts in Bombay.
“Underworld connection. Lakdawala was arrested by the ED in a Rs 200 crore money laundering case and died in the lock-up. Yusuf’s illegal money is now in Rana’s account. When will ED serve tea to Rana? Why is the D-Gang being saved? Why is the BJP quiet?” On Tuesday night, Raut had tweeted a photo, purportedly of a financial statement of Navneet Rana, who is an actress-turned-politician, of a loan of Rs 80 lakh taken from Lakdawala,” he wrote in another tweet.
Navneet Rana and her MLA husband Ravi Rana had called for a recital of Hanuman Chalisa outside the private residence of Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray ‘Matoshree’. However, they dropped the plan but were later arrested by the Mumbai police under various sections of IPC including Section 124 A which accounts for sedition.