ED attaches assets of firm that gave loans to Uddhav Thackeray’s brother-in-law

Patankar is the brother of Rashmi Thackeray, wife of Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray.

The ED action against Pushpak Bullion is in connection with its money laundering case against the company for allegedly accepting demonetised currency of Rs 84.5 crore against 258 kg of gold between November and December 2016.

The agency claimed Pushpak Bullion gave over Rs 30 crore from the proceeds to Shree Saibaba Grihanirmiti as unsecured loans.

The ED in a statement said the attached assets include 11 residential flats (Express photo by Deepak Joshi)

This money, it said, was transferred through a clutch of shell companies.

In a statement, the ED said the attached assets include 11 residential flats in a real estate project called Neelambari in Thane promoted by Shree Saibaba Grihanirmiti. The flats are said to be worth Rs 6.45 crore.

According to the ED, its investigation found that Mahesh Patel, a director of Pushpak Group “siphoned off and layered funds” of Pushpak Group companies. In one such instance, the ED claimed that Pushpak Realty Developer transferred Rs 20.02 crore to a clutch of entities controlled by an accommodation entry provider, Nandkishore Chaturvedi, “after layering it through various connected/ unconnected entities”.

This money, it claimed, was subsequently parked in a real estate project developed by Shree Saibaba Grihanirmiti.

A notice stuck outside a flat (Express photo by Deepak Joshi)

“Nandkishore Chaturvedi who operates a number of shell companies further transferred the money through his shell company Humsafar Dealer Private Limited in the garb of extending unsecured loans in excess of Rs 30 crore to Shree Saibaba Grihanirmiti Pvt Ltd. Thus, the money siphoned off by Mahesh Patel in connivance with Mr Nandkishore Chaturvedi was parked in the real estate projects by Shree Saibaba Grihanirmiti Pvt Ltd,” the ED said.

When his comments were sought, Maharashtra Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray said, “I was inside the Legislative Assembly. I don’t have much information. I will collect information and get back.”

Eknath Shinde, Minister for Urban Development, said: “These are vengeful actions against us. Such use of Central investigative machinery is detrimental to democracy. The BJP is working to create obstacles in the MVA government’s work and to destabilise the government… Shiv Sena is not afraid of such action. The government will continue its work.”

Earlier, the agency had provisionally attached properties worth Rs 21.46 crore of the promoters of Pushpak Bullion in the case.

The ED registered a case against Pushpak Bullion in March 2017. The agency said it found that Rs 84.5 crore in demonetised currency notes were deposited in the bank accounts of two jewellery firms — Pihu Gold and Satnam Jewellers — post demonetisation in November 2016 and the money was then transferred to Pushpak Bullion for purchase of 258 kg of gold. The two companies, the ED claimed, were dummy companies formed only to transfer the demonetised currencies accepted by the Pushpak Group.

The ED said the account of Pushpak Bullion was “already a declared non-performing asset (NPA) by a bank”. “Preliminary investigation indicated that the said companies did not have matching economic wherewithal to have entered into such transactions in cash and subsequently layering the same through investments in gold bullion,” the ED said in 2017.