New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) carried out raids at multiple premises of Maharashtra Transport Minister Anil Parab on Thursday, over money laundering charges.
Anil Parab is senior Shiv Sena leader & transport minister in MahaAghadi government. He is also a staunch supporter & loyalist of Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray.
The ED raids comes just months ahead of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) election.
The ED sleuths carried searches at his family and official residence in Mumbai today. His resorts in Pune & Dapoli are also the lens.
A fresh case of money laundering was filed against the minister, pertaining to land purchase in Dapoli in 2017.
The raids are in connection with alleged financial irregularities in his land dealings in the year 2017-2020. The minister came under the scanner of agencies for allegedly evading stamp duty on the villa that was constructed on the resort.
In earlier searches in 2017, the department found that he purchased land in Dapoli in 2017 for Rs 1 crore & sold it in 2020 for Rs 1.10 crore after building a resort on that land.
Officials say that the concerned parties concealed information on the constructed resort and didn’t pay stamp duty on this. The resort was reportedly built at a cost of Rs 6 crore.
Political fight over ED raids
The timing of ED raids has sparked off political fight between Sena & BJP in the state. The BMC elections are likely to be announced soon and Anil Parab is one of the key Sena figures devising the party’s strategy for the BMC elections. Moreover, his close association with Sena supremo are well-known.
BJP leader Kirit Somaiya demanded that the accused minister be sent behind bars while the Congress-NCP-Sena combine accused the Centre of misusing Central agencies for scoring political points.