ED hovers close to Thackeray, attaches brother-in-law's properties (Ld)

Mumbai, March 22 (IANS) In a major development, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Tuesday that it has attached immovable properties worth around Rs 6.45 core belonging to Pushpak Group's entity, Pushpak Bullion, in Thane.These include 11 flats in the Neelambari project in Thane, belonging to Shree Saibaba Grihanirmiti Pvt Ltd, which is owned and controlled by Shridhar Madhav Patankar.Patankar is the brother-in-law of Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray (brother of Thackeray's wife Rashmi Thackeray).The action follows a money-laundering case registered in March 2017 against Pushpak Bullion and other group companies under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the ED said.Till date, the central probe agency has attached other properties worth Rs 21.46 crore owned by Mahesh Patel, Chandrakant Patel, their family members and companies controlled by them, in connection with the case.Subsequent probes revealed that Mahesh Patel had siphoned off and layered funds of Pushpak Group's concern, Pushpak Realty, in connivance with Nandkishore Chaturvedi, who provided the 'accommodation entry'.Under the garb of a sale, Pushpak Realty transferred funds to the tune of Rs 20.02 crore back to Chaturvedi after layering it through various connected/unconnected entities, said the ED.The ED said Chaturvedi, who operates several shell companies, further transferred these monies through his bogus company, Humsafar Dealer Pvt Ltd, under the cover of extending 'unsecured loans' of more than Rs 30 crore to Shree Saibaba Grihanirmiti Pvt Ltd.Accordingly, the agency said that the money siphoned off by Mahesh Patel in connivance with Chaturvedi was finally parked in the realty projects of the housing company owned/controlled by Patankar, the CM's brother-in-law.The development came soon after Shiv Sena MP and its chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut accused the BJP of letting loose various central probe agencies against the state leaders in a bid to topple the Maha Vikas Aghadi government comprising Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress.Reacting to the latest ED action, BJP activist and ex-MP Kirit Somaiya said that Thackeray's brother-in-law (brother of Rashmi Thackeray) is involved in "money laundering scam" with "use of shell companies" and "scamsters will not be spared".However, there have been no reactions yet from the Thackeray family or the MVA partners to the ED move.
--IANS qn/arm

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