Pune Deputy Collector Ajay Pawar appeared before ED in connection with the Waqf Board money laundering case. The ED had raided 7 places last week in connection with the case.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) earlier last week searched multiple premises in Pune and adjoining areas in connection with a money laundering case linked to alleged illegal sale of Waqf properties in Maharashtra, officials said.

They said at least seven premises were covered and the action is being taken under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The ED case of money laundering is based on a Maharashtra Police FIR and charge sheet and the agency is collecting more information through the raids, they said.

State Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Malik had hit back at the raids and said the central agency is under the wrong impression that it could scare him with such actions. Addressing a news conference here, Malik took a dig at the central agency and said it is welcome to probe 30,000 entities under the Waqf Board.

The Waqf Board will extend all the necessary cooperation to the ED, he said. However, it should show the same interest in probing the complaints made by the Shia Waqf Board, Lucknow, as well, the minister said.

"If the ED thinks such actions (searches) will scare me, then it is under the wrong impression. Such acts will not deter me in continuing our clean-up operation under which central agencies are misused," Malik said. In an apparent reference to the BJP, the NCP minister said he, along with his senior leaders, will send a list of documents of "some leaders" to the ED and urge the agency to probe them.

Malik has been attacking the Modi government for allegedly misusing the central agencies, particularly the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), against BJP's political opponents. The leader said the agency was welcome to probe any case it wants, but it appears that the entire purpose of its current action is to malign his image. He said ever since he took over as the Minister for Minority Affairs, the Waqf Board is functioning at its full strength with a full-time Chief Executive Officer.

Malik said seven FIRs, too, have been registered by the Waqf Board since he took over to probe alleged irregularities. "We have launched a clean-up operation in the Waqf Board under which past members of the board and some officials may also face action," he said, noting all businesses of the board are planned to be conducted online.

(With PTI inputs)

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