The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday questioned Maharashtra transport and parliamentary affairs minister Anil Parab for close to 11 hours, as part of its probe into the alleged money-laundering and possible coastal regulation zone (CRZ) violations linked to a piece of land at Dapoli in Ratnagiri district on which two resorts were built.
The ED on Monday served summons on Parab, 57, a three-time legislator in the legislative council and a close confidant of chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.
The Shiv Sena leader reached the ED office at Ballard Estate around 11.30 am on Tuesday and left at 10.30 pm. Agency officials said Parab had again been summoned for questioning on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters outside the ED office, Parab said, “I was called for questioning today. I answered all the questions that were asked. I have said it before that I don’t own the resorts. At the moment, I do not know whether I will be called for questioning tomorrow.”
The minister refrained from making any comment on the revolt among the MLAs in Sena and said he was not aware of what all happened as he was under the ED’s interrogation for the whole day.
Parab is the third minister in the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government to face a probe by a Central agency. The ED registered a case against him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act based on a complaint filed by an officer of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC) on March 10, 2022, in the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class at Dapoli.
The complainant, a scientist with the MOEFCC, has sought to prosecute Parab Sai Resort and Sea Conch Resort, both located at Murud in Dapoli tehsil, claiming that he had violated CRZ norms by constructing the resorts in no-development zone (CRZ-III), discharging polluting material in a sea stream, resulting in ecological damage to the ecologically sensitive area.
On May 26, the agency raided seven premises, including the Sena minister’s private residence in Bandra, his official bungalow – Ajinkyatara in south Mumbai, Sea Conch Resort at Dapoli, as well as the Pune residence of Vibhas Sathe, the man who allegedly sold the Dapoli plot to Parab.
Parab had in March denied owning the resorts at Dapoli when Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kirit Somaiya visited the coastal town and accused Parab of not complying with a MoEFCC order issued earlier this year, which said the resorts should be demolished for violating provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
“I don’t own the resorts. I have made this clarification time and again. The department concerned has inspected documents regarding the resorts. Somaiya is repeatedly trying to say that the resorts are owned by me; he must show documents proving that,” Parab had said at the time.