ED attaches Khadse's assets in money laundering case

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday said it has attached assets worth Rs 5.73 crore of former Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Eknath Khadse and his family in a money laundering case. The attachment has been done in a case of "criminal misconduct by a public servant".

"The attached assets include immovable properties worth Rs 4.86 crore and bank balance of Rs 86.28 lakh," the agency said in a statement.

The ED is probing Khadse in an alleged land grab deal of 2016 in Pune. Khadse, 68, left the BJP to join the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) late last year and he has been questioned by the ED in this case in the past.

The case stems from a Pune police anti-corruption bureau (ACB) FIR filed against Khadse, his wife Mandakini and son-in-law Girish Chaudhari, in April 2017. The agency claimed that alleged irregularities in the land deal caused a loss of Rs 61.25 crore to the exchequer "by fraudulently entering into a sale deed". The plot, owned by state-run MIDC, under the scanner is located in the Haveli Taluka of Bhosari, a suburb of Pune district and it bears the survey no 52/2A/2.

Chaudhari was also arrested by the ED in the past.

The ED had earlier issued a statement to describe the alleged role of Chaudhari in the deal, saying "with the connivance of others, he knowingly entered into a sale deed to acquire the said land despite the land belonging to the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) to avail a compensation more than 2.5-3 times of the actual value of land".