MUMBAI: The Mumbai unit of Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized assets, including fixed deposits and mutual funds worth around ₹44 crore, and seized ₹16.5 lakh in cash during search operations conducted on Tuesday at many places, including at the premises of politician and businessman JM Mhatre.
The ED operations are part of its money-laundering investigation into an alleged land fraud in Vahal village in Raigad district. Mhatre and others are 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) to receive ₹52 crore in total as compensation. Mutation records are official documents which record changes in ownership of property.
The searches were carried out at multiple locations in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, resulting in the seizure of a large number of incriminating documents, apart from the freezing of financial assets and seizure of cash.
The ED’s ECIR (Enforcement Case Information Report) in the money-laundering case is based on a first information report (FIR) registered by the Panvel police on the basis of a complaint by the forest department against Mhatre and a certain S Qadri (now deceased).
“The main accused in the case is J M Mhatre. He is a businessman and the director of a firm, J M Mhatre Infra Private Limited,” an ED official said.
Mhatre, a former Panvel Municipal Council president, was a Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) leader for nearly four decades before he shifted to the BJP recently. 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.
Among the freezing and seizures made by the ED in the course of the search operations were bank balances of ₹23.62 lakh (of Mhatre), fixed deposits of ₹42.17 crore (of J M Mhatre Infra Private Limited), bank balance of ₹1.37 crore and mutual funds of ₹23 lakh (of Qadri) and cash of ₹16.5 lakh from the latter’s family’s premises. ED had undertaken the searches to unearth details related to the land fraud and trace the alleged proceeds of crime, agency officials said.
The case pertains to the alleged illegal acquisition of forest land and its subsequent illegal transfer to NHAI and making a wrongful claim of land compensation by the accused persons. ED’s investigation revealed that the mutation entry of the said land was tampered with and the name of the owner, Maharashtra forest department, was replaced with that of the accused illegally, ED officials said. Some parcels of the land were allegedly illegally sold to the NHAI, for which Mhatre received compensation of ₹42.4 crore while Qadri received ₹9.69 crore, ED officials said.