ED GRILLS EKNATH KHADSE FOR 5 HOURS IN LAND GRAB CASE

Maharashtra’s former revenue minister Eknath Khadse, who recently left the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to join the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), was on Friday grilled by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for five hours in an alleged land grab case. Khadse, a political heavyweight from north Maharashtra, was summoned to appear in the last week of December, but he had sought time citing health issues. Last month, the ED had gone to Pune to scrutinise evidence and gather documents pertaining to the deal. Subsequently, it recorded the statement of the whistle-blower and social activist Anjali Damania in the matter. Khadse, who was a senior minister in the previous BJP-Shiv Sena government and virtually No 2, had to resign in wake of the scam in 2016. Khadse had fallen out with then Chief Minister and current leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis when he left the BJP, and finally joined the Sharad Pawar-led NCP. In his complaint to the Bund Garden police station in Pune on 30 May 2016, builder and real estate developer Hemant Gawande had alleged that Khadse misused his power as a minister and purchased land in Bhosari area, owned by Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), in the name of his wife and son-in-law at the cost of Rs 3.75 crore, as against the market price of Rs 40 crore. The state government had initiated a probe by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) into Khadse. He had also faced a probe by Justice MD Zoting, a retired Bombay High Court judge. Khadse had got a clean chit in both inquiries. Khadse (68) was summoned by the ED on 30 December, but he skipped appearance citing health reasons. ED officials had agreed to give him 14 days to appear before the agency. Earlier, the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) had investigated the matter and submitted a closure report. The Income Tax department also had sought information in the matter.