Mumbai: ED conducts raids in money laundering case against businessman Sujit Patkar

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The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday conducted raids at 15 locations in Mumbai in connection with a money laundering case against businessman Sujit Patkar, an official told news agency PTI.

Patkar and his three partners allegedly bagged Mumbai civic body contracts fraudulently for managing Covid-19 field hospitals during the pandemic, the official told PTI.

The raids were being conducted at locations of some officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and other people, including IAS officer Sanjeev Jaiswal, in connection with the Covid-19 hospital management contracts, he said.

The Azad Maidan police station in Mumbai registered a forgery case against Lifeline Hospital Management Services firm, Patkar and his three partners in August last year.

Based on the FIR, the ED had registered a case to investigate the money laundering angle, the official told PTI.

BMC Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal appeared before the ED in January this year in connection with alleged irregularities in award of contracts for the health facilities during the pandemic. Sujit Patkar is said to be a close associate of Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut, reported PTI.

Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday said it has seized Rs 1.62 crore in cash, most of it in Rs 2,000 denomination, following a raid against a man accused of extortion, murder and liquor smuggling in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Daman.

Nine residential and commercial premises of Suresh Jagubhai Patel and his associates were searched in Daman and Gujarat's Valsad on June 19 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the probe agency said in a statement.

Suresh Jagubhai Patel and his accomplices -- Ketan Patel, Vipul Patel and Miten Patel -- are in judicial custody in connection with a 2018 double murder in Daman, the probe agency said.

The money laundering case stems from more than 35 FIRs filed against Patel and his associates by the police in Daman, Gujarat and Mumbai on charges of corruption, possession of illegal firearms, murder, attempt to murder, extortion, liquor smuggling, possession of illegal firearms, robbery, attack on government employees and passport forgery among others, the ED said.

The searches resulted in the seizure of cash worth Rs 1.62 crore, including more than Rs 1 crore in Rs 2,000 notes, documents related to more than 100 properties and "incriminating" papers about firms, companies, establishments and cash transactions apart from three bank locker keys, it said.

The RBI had recently announced the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 currency notes from circulation but gave the public time till September 30 to either deposit such notes in accounts or exchange them at banks.

(With inputs from PTI)