Raj Thackeray gets support from Uddhav Thackeray over ED summon

Raj Thackeray

Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday lent his support to his cousin and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray in connection with a case pertaining to alleged irregularities related to Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) loan in Kohinoor Mills land deal case.The MNS chief agreed to appear before the ED in connection with the money laundering case on Thursday and also issued a statement to the party leaders and workers asking them to exercise restraint and maintain peace.

While speaking to the media persons at his residence in Kalanagar, Bandra East, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray expressed indirect backing to his cousin Raj Thackeray and said that nothing would emerge from his (Raj's) interrogation by the ED.

While reacting to MNS spokesperson Sandip Deshpande, who had termed the ED move as 'vendetta', Uddhav said that all the people in the state are aware that there is nothing to the case and Raj Thackeray will be unscathed from it.

Uddhav Thackeray's comments came when he was welcoming Congress legislator Nirmala Gavit from Igatpuri to join the Shiv Sena party. Before Raj Thackeray's appeal came, the MNS who had proposed a bandh withdrew the protest which they had proposed in the neighbouring Thane district on Thursday.

On Tuesday, Raj Thackeray took to the micro-blogging site Twitter in order to appeal to his workers to not protest over the issue and not gather near the ED office. Thackeray, who was summoned by the ED for investigation has now got support from his estranged cousin and ruling ally Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray.

The ED officials grilled his former partner in the real estate venture and son of ex-CM Manohar Joshi for eight hours on Monday.

Also Read: Mumbai: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena withdraws shutdown call

After the ED had summoned MNS Chief Raj Thackeray, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had warned the MNS party workers of taking strict action if they take the law into their hands. Besides Raj Thackeray, former Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi's son and realty developer Unmesh Joshi was also summoned by the ED in the money laundering case. On Monday, he appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and was grilled by the agency for over eight hours on Monday, followed by a second round on Tuesday.

After his interrogation, Joshi that the agency had not sent any questionnaire to him and he has assured cooperation in the investigation. The agency is conducting an investigation into the alleged irregularities in IL&FS Group's loan defaulter case in Kohinoor CTNL. The Kohinoor CTNL is the realty company which is developing Kohinoor Square tower in Dadar West, which is located opposite Shiv Sena Bhavan.

Also Read: Manohar Joshi's son Unmesh appears before Enforcement Directorate in IL&FS case

Unmesh Joshi's realty company and their investments were already under a scanner as it is among the prominent defaulters of IL&FS, which is estimated to be around Rs 135 crore. The realty company was launched over a decade ago by Unmesh Joshi and Raj Thackeray, and one of their associate. The realty company was in the process to buy the defunct Kohinoor Mills No. 3 for a whopping Rs 421 crore and the IL&FS company had already pumped in Rs 225 crore.

But, all of a sudden, the IL&FS reportedly backed off from the deal and surrendered its shares for only Rs 90 crores. Eventually, Raj Thackeray who is one of the partners also left the project after selling off his shares. Apparently, Unmesh Joshi's Kohinoor Group, which was founded by his father and former Chief Minister Manohar Joshi was earlier controlled by the Kohinoor CTNL and is at present under the control of a Prabhadevi-based company.

With inputs from IANS and ANI

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