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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has rejected Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Suraj Chavan’s claims of being illegally arrested for alleged irregularities in the distribution of khichdi to migrants during the Covid-19 pandemic. The probe agency said the grounds of arrest for Chavan, an accused in the case, were read and provided to him.
Chavan, a Shiv Sena (UBT) functionary was arrested by the ED in the khichdi scam. His plea, filed through advocate Harshad Bhadbhade, claimed that he was not informed of the grounds for his arrest and was never told what reasons the agency had to believe that he had committed any offence. The plea also alleged that no such reasons were shown before the magistrate, who remanded Chavan to ED custody.
Chavan also claimed that he had been falsely implicated as he was with the Shiv Sena (UBT) and pointed out that the ED had singled him out to arrest out of all the accused.
The ED said that the arresting officer had provided details of the scheduled offence leading to the initiation of an investigation under PMLA to the accused. The agency also said that following the investigation, the investigating officer concluded that Chavan was allegedly guilty of money laundering that was provided to him.
“The arrest order was issued, read and provided/supplied to the accused in writing. Also, the grounds of arrest recorded on reasonable belief were read and provided/supplied to Chavan in writing. Thus, the contention of the accused is devoid of any merit and liable to be rejected,” the probe agency’s affidavit said.
“The arresting officer has provided details of the generation of proceeds of crime through the fraud against Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and had also incorporated details of acquisition of such proceeds by the accused in the guise of salary and utilisation of such acquired proceeds in purchasing properties in his name. Additionally, the arresting officer categorically mentioned the social status/position of the accused which would be misused for influencing the ongoing investigation under PMLA,” it read.
With regard to Chavan’s allegation that the arrest was made due to political compulsion, the ED said that at the time of arrest, they had duly recorded the position held by him in a political party.
“The investigators have clearly set out how the accused has misused his political position in the perpetrated fraud. Thus, the raised averments about malafide intent are false and frivolous and thus ought to be rejected,” the ED said.
The agency stated that the court had applied its mind and had given a reasoned order when it remanded Chavan to further ED custody for the investigation to “reach the trail of money”.
Chavan had submitted that no chargesheet had been filed by EOW (Mumbai Police) till date. The ED agreed but said that the submission of the accused that the chargesheet was not filed by EOW and that there was no evidence.
Chavan, who is a core committee member of the Yuva Sena, was arrested by the ED on January 17 on charges related to money laundering and his bail plea was rejected a few months ago.
