ED attaches assets worth Rs 5.73 crore linked to NCP leader Eknath Khadse

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 27

The Enforcement Directorate said on Friday that it had issued provisional attachment order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to seize assets worth Rs. 5.73 crore belonging to senior NCP leader Eknath Khadse and his family members—including his son-in-law Girish Chaudhary—in connection with a case relating to criminal misconduct by a public servant.

Officials in the agency said the attached assets include immovable properties worth Rs 4.86 crore, and bank balance of Rs. 86.28 lakh. The attached immovable assets include a bungalow in Lonavala, three land parcels and three flats in Jalgaon district of Maharashtra, they added.

Noting that the properties are in the name of the three accused in the case—Eknath Khadse, Mandakini Khadse and Girish Chaudhary, the officials said, the ED move came in connection with a Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) land deal case in Pune.

Chaudhary was arrested by the ED last month and has been in judicial custody since. The ED has questioned Khadse twice so far, and has summoned his wife Mandakini Khadse several times, but she has so far not appeared before the agency citing health issues, officials said.

Eknath Khadse was a minister in the previous Devendra Fadnavis government in Maharashtra. Before he quit from the government in June 2016, he faced a series of charges including the allegation of the MIDC land scam.

His critics pointed to a conflict of interest in the MIDC land deal as he was the revenue minister back then. Eknath Khadse quit the BJP in 2020 and joined the NCP.