MUMBAI: Shiv Sena member of Parliament (MP) from Yavatmal-Washim, Bhavana Gawali on Thursday skipped the fourth summons issued to her by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and sought 15 more days to appear before the agency’s office in Mumbai.
Gavali informed this to ED through her counsel Inderpal Singh.
“We have submitted some documents related to the firm namely Mahila Utkarsh Pratishthan to the agency as they sought these documents and have asked them to collect the remaining documents from the local Washim police where she has already lodged a complaint,” Singh said.
“We have also sought 15 days and are ready to give them the other documents by obtaining the same invoking provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) Act. Gawali is not named as an accused in the charge-sheet that is already filed in the matter, she was summoned as a witness in the case,” Singh added.
ED on April 29 issued summons to Gawali, asking her to appear before the agency’s investigators on May 5. Earlier, ED had summoned her thrice but she failed to appear before the agency.
ED had arrested Saeed Khan, her close associate, in September 2021. In November, the agency filed a detailed charge sheet on the matter. It also attached an office space worth ₹3.5 crore at Nariman Point in the case.
ED’s Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case against Gawali is based on a first information report (FIR) registered at Washim in May 2020 in connection with the alleged financial irregularities in a trust.
Gawali, who was also the chairperson of the trust, is the complainant in the FIR. She had accused her personal secretary Ashok Gandule and other employees of conspiring to misappropriate ₹18.18 crore belonging to the Pratishatan.
The agency alleged Gawali, through Khan and his accomplices, criminally conspired to convert the Pratishthan into a company under the Company Act through forgery in January 2020. ₹69 crore in book value was transferred to the newly formed company. Khan and Shalinitai Pundlikraoji Gawali, the mother of Bhavana Gawali, are the directors of the company.
The agency alleged that the accused forged documents, letters, and certificates for submission to the Registrar of Companies.