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After the Maharashtra 2019 assembly election, when Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar aligned with the Shiv Sena and Congress to deny the Bharatiya Janata Party a second chance at power in the state, the tussle between the BJP and the three allies, who formed the government under the Maha Vikas Aghadi, is getting murkier day by day.
The central government, in its typical sledgehammer style, has unleashed the might of its investigative agencies like the Enforcement Directorate against leaders of Pawar's NCP and the Shiv Sena.
Nawab Malik, who emerged as the voice of the NCP, has been booked by the Enforcement Directorate on charges of buying benami property from fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim's sister Haseena Parkar 22 years ago.
Mumbai's famed 'tere ko mein dekh loonga' idiom has seeped into the state's politics, with the ED's tentacles reaching even Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's brother-in-law Shridhar Patankar whose property worth Rs 6.45 crore (Rs 64.5 million) was attached in what is termed the Pushpak Bullion case.
Who are the Shiv Sena and NCP leaders facing ED heat?
A checklist assembled by Hemantkumar Shivsaran/Rediff.com.
| Shiv Sena leaders and associates in ED's sights | ||
| Pratap Sarnaik | ED attached his assets amounting to Rs 11.35 crore (Rs 113.5 million) in what is termed the NSEL scam. | |
| Saeed Khan, a close aide of Shiv Sena MP Bhavana Gawali | ED attached immovable property worth Rs 3.75 crore (Rs 35.5 million), accused him of siphoning funds from the Mahila Utkarsh Pratishtan in connivance with Gawali. He has been arrested. | |
| Pravin M Raut | ED arrested Pravin M Raut, former director, Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd, Mumbai, under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 and charged him with making payments to a 'politically exposed person'. | |
| Shridhar Madhav Patankar, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's brother-in-law | ED attached 11 residential properties in the case against Pushpak Bullion, one of the companies of the Pushpak Group, at a real estate project promoted by Patankar. It also charged Pushpak Bullion with accepting demonetised currency for money laundering, and shared the proceeds with Patankar's firm. | |
| Varsha Sanjay Raut | Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut's wife Varsha Raut repaid a Rs 55 lakh (Rs 5.5 million) friendly loan, taken from a bank scam accused's wife. Soon after, the ED summoned her for an explanation for the transaction. | |
| Anil Parab | ED issued summons to Maharashtra Minister Anil Parab to depose in the alleged money laundering case involving former home minister Anil Deshmukh. | |
| Former Sena MP Anand Adsul | ED filed a case against the Shiv Sena leader in the Rs 980 crore (Rs 9.8 billion) City Cooperative Bank fraud case. | |
| NCP members in ED's sights | ||
| Eknath Khadse | ED attached assets worth Rs 5.73 crore (Rs 57.3 million) in an alleged money laundering case against Khadse (who was a minister in Devendra Fadnavis's BJP ministry and his bitter rival before leaving the BJP to join the NCP), wife Mandanik and son-in-law Girish Chaudhri. | |
| Anil Deshmukh | ED attached assets worth Rs 4.20 crore (Rs 42 million) and arrested Deshmukh under the PMLA for allegedly accepting bribes from bar owners when he was the state home minister. | |
| Girish Chaudhri, Eknath Khadse's son-in-law | ED arrested Eknath Khadse's son-in-law Girish Chaudhri in connection with a 2016 land deal in Pune. | |
| Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar | ED attached properties including land, building and structure and plant and machinery of the Jarandeshwar Sahkari Sugar Karkhana (Jarandeshwar SSK) worth Rs 65.75 crore (Rs 657.5 million) belonging to a sugar mill in Satara district in connection with an alleged money laundering case involving the Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank, and that a firm linked to Ajit Pawar -- who is also Sharad Pawar's nephew -- and his wife Sunetra was involved in the case. | |
| Prajakt Tanpure | ED attached over 94 acres of land belonging to Maharashtra Minister Prajakt Tanpure and others in connection with its money-laundering probe into the alleged scam in the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank. | |
| Nawab Malik | Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik has been in judicial remand in a case over allegedly purchasing benami property belonging to gangster Dawood Ibrahim's sister Haseena Parkar. | |
| Sharad Pawar | Pawar was named by the ED in a money laundering case in connection with an alleged scam at the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank. | |