Mumbai: In a huge jolt to Shiv Sena (UBT), the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached properties worth Rs 10.20 crore belonging to former minister Anil D. Parab, here on Wednesday.
In a statement, the ED said that the provisional attachments were slapped in connection with the alleged money-laundering case probe against Parab, Sai Resorts NX and others in Ratnagiri.
The attachments comprise lands of one acre at Murud worth around Rs 2,73,91,000 and the resort constructed on it valued at Rs 7,46,47,000.
Following a complaint by the Ministry of Environmental Forest and Climate change under the PMLA, the ED has launched a probe against Parab, Sai Resorts NX, Sea Conch Resorts and others last year, and a complaint was lodged against them with Dapoli Police Station for deceit and causing loss to the Maharashtra government.
The ED probe revealed that Parab, in connivance with one Sadanand Kadam acquired illegal permission from the local SDO office to convert the land from agricultural to non-agricultural uses and constructed the resort in violation of CRZ norms.
Parab also got illegal clearance from the revenue department to construct a ground+one floor twin-bungalow over a piece of land falling under CRZ-III or No Development Zone and then he built the Sai Resorts NX with ground+two floors.
The ED said that in order to hide his identity as the owner, Parab obtained the permissions from the revenue department in the name of the previous owner Vibhas Sathe by forging his signatures on the application.
Parab is also accused of deliberately suppressing the fact that the land came under the CRZ-III with the Gram Panchayat, and later pressuring the GP to transfer the lands and buildings in his name though there was no mention of any construction in the original deed.
Later, the ex-minister cheated the GP by making an application for taxation purposes before completing the resort/building constructions.
The ED said that the payments for the construction of the resort was deliberately made in cash and the building work started before the registration of the land in Parab’s name though payments were made and the property was in his physical possession.
This, the ED contended, was done in order to hide his identity as the real owner of the building so that in future, the building construction expenses and any other violations came to the fore, the earlier owner Vibhas Sathe could be blamed.
When various complaints regarding the illegal resort construction came to light, including those lodged by Bharatiya Janata Party ex-MP Kirit Somaiya, Parab sold the land on paper to Kadam to conceal all the illegalities and irregularities in constructing the resort in a No Development Zone, said the ED.
(IANS)
