The agency wants to question Parab in connection with a money laundering case linked to Sai Resort at the hill station of Dapoli. (File)The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned state Transport Minister and Shiv Sena leader Anil Parab for questioning on Tuesday. The agency wants to question him in connection with a money laundering case linked to Sai Resort at the hill station of Dapoli. ED officials said that Parab was earlier summoned last week and was instructed to appear before them on June 15. However, the minister informed the central agency that he is not in the city, due to which he won’t be able to appear before it.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Parab had earlier said, “I received the summons on Tuesday (June 14) and as I am not in Mumbai, so I could not appear before ED.” The Sena leader maintained that the resort does not belong to him.
“It is owned by Sadanand Kadam about which he has informed the court. The resort has not even started functioning and still they have registered a case under the Environment (Protection) Act against me and have sent notices to me. They have considered that as a predicate offence and conducted raids against me,” Parab had said to the media on May 26, soon after ED conducted raids at seven premises belonging to Parab and people close to him in Mumbai, Pune and Ratnagiri.
On March 8, the Income Tax Department searched 26 premises in Mumbai, Pune, Ratnagiri and Sangli, linked to Bajrang Kharmate, a deputy regional transport officer (RTO) known to be close to Parab and Sadanand Kadam, a cable operator from Mumbai. During the searches, investigators learnt to have discovered irregularities related to the purchase of a land parcel by the transport minister in Dapoli in 2017.
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The tax authorities said that Parab had registered the land only in 2019 while the resort was developed on it between 2017 and 2020. According to the authorities, Rs 6 crore was spent on developing the resort, which was sold to Kadam in 2020 for just Rs 1.1 crore. The cost of building the resort “had not been accounted for” by either Kadam or Parab, they said.
BJP leader Kirit Somaiya had also made several complaints to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change against Parab alleging that the Dapoli-based Sai Resort violates several Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules. The ED has already questioned Shiv Sena leaders Sadanand Kadam and Sanjay Kadam in the case.
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