ED raids Panvel BJP leader over ‘illegal' land transfer, pocketing Rs 42 cr compensation from NHAI
'The land parcels under subject matter are 41.70 hectares and 110.60 hectares in Panvel taluka of Raigad district. J.M. Mhatre transferred 1.86 hectares of land and received Rs 42.4 crore as compensation, and the other named accused in the police FIR, Saiyyed Mohammad Abdul Hamid Qadri, transferred 0.4225 Hectares of land and received Rs 9.69 crore in compensation from NHAI,' an ED official said.
Through this illegal acquisition and transfer, Janardhan Moru Mhatre allegedly obtained a compensation amount of Rs 42.4 crore from the authority responsible for developing, maintaining, and managing the national highways. Two of these premises under search are in Panvel, while the remaining one is in Dadar.
New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Tuesday carried out searches at three premises linked to a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader as part of an investigation into illegal acquisition of forest land and subsequent transfers to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in Maharashtra.
Last month, Mhatre, who was with the Peasants and Workers Party of India (PWP), joined the BJP along with scores of supporters in Maharashtra's Raigad district. He was the former president of the Panvel Municipal Council. His son Pritam contested the last assembly polls from Uran as the PWP candidate and came a close second to BJP's Mahesh Baldi.
The ED's money laundering case stems from an First Information Report (FIR) filed by the Navi Mumbai Police in September last year that booked Mhatre and Qadri under Sections 3(5) (joint liability), 318 (4) (cheating) and 61 (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
The FIR was filed on the basis of a complaint from Raigarh's Range Forest Officer (RFO), who accused the duo of large-scale forgery.
In his complaint to the Navi Mumbai Police, the RFO alleged that Mhatre pretended to be the rightful owner of said land parcels and handed over them to the NHAI in March 2018 and recouped a cheque of amount Rs 42.4 crore from the NHAI. On the other hand, Qadri allegedly recouped Rs 9.69 crore cheque from the NHAI for the land parcel that never belonged to him.
In the same police complaint, the RFO alleged that Mhatre had on two occasions secured loans of Rs 7.75 crore and Rs 200 crore even before the land was transferred to the NHAI.
The lid was blown off when the Alibag deputy conservator of forests sent a letter to NHAI's project director in January last year informing about the illegal acquisition and transfer of the compensation amount. Subsequently, the Alibag deputy conservator of forests ordered the RFO to file a police complaint against Mhatre and Qadri.
Mhatre is accused of acquiring the land illegally, without prior approval from the government as required, and later using it for several purposes such as mortgaging for bank loans and finally transferring it to the NHAI.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
Also Read: ED's now-withdrawn summons to Arvind Datar: The case, controversy & SC advocates body letter
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