ED charge sheets arrested Nagpur lawyer, brother in money laundering case

NEW DELHI: The ED has filed a chargesheet under the anti-money laundering law against Nagpur-based lawyer Satish M Uke and his brother in connection with an alleged land grabbing investigation against them, the central probe agency said on Saturday.

The prosecution complaint was filed before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Mumbai on May 26 and it took cognisance of the same on June 9, the Enforcement Directorate said in a statement.

The money laundering case against lawyer Satish Mahadevrao Uke and his brother Pradip Mahadevrao Uke stems from FIRs registered against them by the Nagpur Police (Ajni police station) in which they were charged with land grabbing in the said district by creating "fake and forged" documents.

The brothers were arrested by the ED on March 31 from Nagpur after raids were carried out at their premises.

They are currently lodged in judicial custody.

"Satish Uke and Pradip Uke had resorted to fraud and forgery and created fake power of attorney in the name of Chandrashekhar Namdevrao Matte and also forged signatures of government officials and usurped lands from the original owners with dubious and malafide intentions.

"They have, thereafter, sold some of the lands and amassed huge amount through illegal means and thus have dealt with the proceeds of crime connected with the scheduled offence and thereby have committed offences under section 3 of the PMLA," it said.

The ED said the proceeds of crime in the case have been quantified at Rs 38 crore.

The lawyer is known for filing petitions against senior BJP leader and former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis over the last few years.

In one of his applications, he had sought criminal proceedings against Fadnavis for "non-disclosure" of criminal cases in his election affidavit.

Uke has alleged that the BJP leader filed a false affidavit in 2014 by hiding two criminal cases - of cheating and forgery - registered against him in 1996 and 1998.

He had also petitioned the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court seeking a police probe into the "suspicious and untimely" death of CBI judge B H Loya.

Judge Loya, who was presiding over the trial in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh alleged fake encounter case, had died reportedly due to a heart attack in Nagpur in 2014.