In a dawn swoop, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Income Tax Department raided the Kolhapur home and some other locations linked to senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Hasan Mushrif and his aides in Kolhapur and Pune for alleged corruption and money-laundering cases, on Wednesday.
The raids in the two cities came after Bharatiya Janata Party former MP Kirit Somaiya made allegations of financial irregularities, corruption and money-laundering of hundreds of crores pertaining to deals through defunct companies, a sugar mill, besides amassing huge properties, against the former Maha Vikas Aghadi government minister.
Teams of around two dozen ED-ITD sleuths swarmed at Mushrif's home in Kagal town of Kolhapur around 6 a.m., and other places connected with the NCP leader, amid tight security and after the operation confiscated certain documents and other evidence.
On the radar of the probe agencies for some time, Mushrif has vehemently denied Somaiya's accusations and said people of a 'particular community are being targetted'.
"The countdown for Mushrif has begun... Why does Hasan-Miya remember his religion now? After this, there are many other leaders who will face the consequences," warned Somaiya, naming Congress former Minister from Mumbai Aslam Shaikh.
He cited several instances of alleged money deals involving Mushrif, his associates, and others through shell or bogus companies, how the funds were reportedly routed for other illegal deals worth hundreds of crores of rupees.
Somaiya's allegations include Mushrif grabbing control of the Appasaheb Nalawade Gadhinglaj Cooperative Sugar Mill Ltd., payoffs and money-laundering of huge amounts through murky transactions benefitting him, his family or associates.
A large number of NCP activists gathered outside Mushrif's home and staged angry protests, raised slogans against the BJP, the government and the probe agencies, and gave calls for 'Kolhapur shutdown' Wednesday.
After Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik, Mushrif is the third senior NCP, besides Shiv Sena (UT)'s MP Sanjay Raut, to be targeted by various probe agencies in the past couple of years.
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