Jun 18, 2025 05:48 AM IST
JM Mhatre, a Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) leader for nearly four decades who shifted to the BJP recently, is under the scanner in the case
MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday carried out searches at multiple locations in Maharashtra including the premises of BJP leader and businessman JM Mhatre in connection with its money-laundering investigation into an alleged land fraud in Vahal village under Raigad district. Mhatre is accused of acquiring forest land illegally in 2005 by making duplicate entries in mutation records and subsequently surrendering the land to the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) in lieu of ₹42.4 crore as compensation. Another accused allegedly received ₹9.69 crore in similar fashion.
Mutation records are official documents which record changes in ownership of property.
Mhatre, a former Panvel Municipal Council president, is the chairman of JM Mhatre Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, a construction company. He was a Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) leader for nearly four decades before he shifted to the BJP recently.
On Tuesday, the ED’s Mumbai unit conducted searches at two of Mhatre’s premises in Panvel. HT reached out to him for his comments regarding the ED’s action and the allegations against him but he did not respond despite repeated attempts.
The ED on Tuesday also conducted searches at a location in Dadar to unearth details related to the land fraud and trace the alleged proceeds of crime, agency officials said.
The ED’s ECIR (Enforcement Complaint Information Report) in the case is based on a first information report (FIR) registered by the Panvel police on the basis of a complaint by the forest department.
According to the ED, Mhatre had acquired four hectares of land in survey number 436/1 (area of 110.60 hectare) in Vahal village under Panvel tehsil in Raigad district illegally by forging mutation records, and subsequently transferred 1.86 hectares to the NHAI for a compensation of ₹42.4 crore. Similarly, a co-accused identified as S Qadri, now deceased, had allegedly transferred 0.42 hectares of land at survey number 427/1 to the NHAI and received ₹9.69 crore as compensation, said ED officers.
The land in question originally belonged to the erstwhile Nizam of Hyderabad, said sources in the ED. The state government had enacted the Maharashtra Private Forests (Acquisition) Act in 1975 to prevent grabbing of such forest land and subsequently transferred the ownership of such land to itself, the sources added.
