The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday raided the premises of Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MLA Ravindra Waikar in Mumbai and some of his linked entities in connection with a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in construction of a luxury hotel in the city's Jogeshwari area, reported PTI quoting official sources as saying.
About seven locations across the city are being searched by the agency, including the premises of Waikar and some of his partners and others, the report added.
The 64-year-old Shiv Sena MLA belongs to the Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray factio and represents the Jogeshwari east constituency in the Maharashtra assembly.
The ED's money laundering case originates from a Mumbai Police economic offences wing (EOW) FIR that accuses the legislator of illegally obtaining approval for the construction of a five-star hotel on a plot reserved for a garden.
It has been alleged that this deal has caused a huge loss to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
On Tuesday, the enforcement agency provisionally attached four immovable properties worth Rs 45.23 crore in connection with a bank fraud case involving Associate High Pressure Technologies Private Limited, according to an official statement, reported ANI.
As per the report, ED has attached properties including a land parcel worth Rs 37.39 crore located in Gujarat's Anjar district. Three flats worth Rs 7.84 crore situated in Mumbai's Bandra were also attached and belonging to the accused Ramchand Kotumal Issrani, Mohamed Farouk Suleman Darvesh, and Manoharlal Sataramdas Agicha, promoter and director of AHPTL.
The ED further said that the proceeds of the crime of Rs 149.89 crore have been quantified in the case.
As per the enforcement agency, its probe revealed that a substantial portion of the loan amount received from the Union of India was siphoned off by way of unsecured loans to related entities, outstanding export proceeds, and bogus commissions to related entities etc, the ANI report stated.