NCP leader Khadse grilled by ED in Pune land deal case

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 15

A team of Enforcement Directorate (ED) today questioned senior NCP leader Eknath Khadse at its office in Mumbai and recorded his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with a Pune Mumbai Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) land deal case.

Agency officials said Khadse was questioned at the ED office in south Mumbai, as he came nearly three weeks after he was first summoned in the case.

Last month, a team of ED had gone to Pune to scrutinise evidence and gather documents pertaining to the alleged irregularities in the deal, which forced Khadse to quit as minister in the erstwhile BJP-led government in 2016, they said.

Subsequently, the ED recorded the statement of whistle-blower activist Anjali Damania in the matter.

Claiming innocence, Khadse (68) — who quit the BJP to join the NCP last October — said the entire transaction was absolutely transparent and without irregularities. The ED’s probe is based on an FIR filed by the state Anti-Corruption Bureau in April 2017 against Khadse, his wife Mandakini, son-in-law Girish Choudhary and others. It is alleged that the land was purchased in the name of Khadse’s wife and son-in-law for Rs 3.75 crore, much lower than the market price of Rs 40 crore.