“The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on January 9 raided the premises of Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Ravindra Waikar and some of his linked entities in a money-laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in construction of a luxury hotel in Jogeshwari area of the city,” official sources said. “About seven locations in Mumbai are being searched by the agency,” they said.
“These include the premises of Waikar and some of his partners and others,” the sources said. Mr. Waikar (64) is a Sena MLA from the Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray faction and represents the Jogeshwari east constituency in the Maharashtra Assembly.
The money-laundering case of the ED stems from a Mumbai Police economic offences wing (EOW) FIR that accuses the legislator of illegally obtaining approval for the construction of a five-star hotel on a plot reserved for a garden. It is alleged that this deal caused a huge loss to the BMC.
