The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has served eviction notices on 11 immovable properties linked to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Eknath Khadse, his family members, and associates.
The properties, which were provisionally attached by the ED in August 2021, include land parcels, bungalows, plots, and flats in Pune, Nashik, Lonavala, Jalgaon, and Mumbai. The properties are either owned by Khadse, his wife Mandakini, or by his associates.
An ED officer said the eviction notices were issued after the provisional attachment of the properties was confirmed by the adjudicating authority under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
The NCP leader and others have been directed to vacate the properties within a stipulated time and hand over their possession to the agency. The owners now cannot sell, transfer, or lease these properties.
Reacting to the developments, Khadse, who is also the former revenue minister, said all these properties were attached by the Central agency in the past. “Now, I have come to know that they have asked us to evict those places. Of the attached properties, I own just one property in Jalgaon which is an open plot. The rest of the properties are linked to my relatives.”
The ED had attached the properties worth ₹5.73 crore belonging to Khadse and his family as part of its investigation into a case of criminal misconduct by a public servant concerning a piece of land at Bhosari in Pune. The politician and his family are accused of defrauding the exchequer of ₹61.25 crore.
The case pertains to the purchase of a plot at Bhosari village in Haveli taluka on April 28, 2016, by Khadse’s kin for ₹3.75 crore against the prevalent market rate of ₹31 crore.
The ED had in September 2021 filed a prosecution complaint against Khadse and his family members. He was questioned by the ED in January and July last year. The agency arrested his son-in-law Girish Chaudhar in July in connection with the case. Khadse’s wife Mandakani and the Bhosari land’s owner, Abbas Rasalbhai Ukani Bhosari, were also booked in the case by the ED on August 28, 2019.
The ED’s case is based on an FIR by the Maharashtra anti-corruption bureau (ACB) against the Khadses in 2017. The ACB later closed the case, but the ED continued its probe into the alleged financial irregularities in the land deal.
The plot’s ownership was contentious as the industries department had acquired it in 1971, but the final award of the land was not made, and the owner had not been compensated for it.
According to the ED, Khadse and his family, despite having knowledge that the plot was reserved for the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), fraudulently purchased it so that when the MIDC would acquire it, they could claim compensation for the property from revenue authorities and receive compensation of more than double the market rate.
Khadse family lawyer Mohan Tekavade on Wednesday said, “There are no proceeds of crime. The land doesn’t belong to the MIDC and hence, permission of the MIDC was not required for the execution of the agreement. There is no loss to the government exchequer due to the registration of the agreement. Thus, the confirmation order is passed arbitrarily. We will challenge it before the appropriate court.”
Khadse had earlier claimed that the ED was set after him because he left the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2020.