Enforcement Directorate (ED) submitted its chargesheet before a special court here against an aide of former Maharashtra minister Anil Parab in an alleged money laundering case connected to the construction of a resort at Dapoli in Ratnagiri district.
The chargesheet has been filed against Parab’s aide Sadanand Kadam and Jairam Deshpande, a former sub-divisional officer. The probe agency had also questioned Parab in the case.
Parab had in March this year moved the Bombay High Court seeking to quash the case, and had also sought an interim relief that no coercive action be taken against him pending hearing of his plea.
The high court had granted him interim protection from arrest and posted the matter for hearing in June. The money laundering case stems from a complaint filed by the Union Environment and Forest Ministry against Parab, Sai Resort, Sea Conch Resort and others for alleged violation of the Environment (Protection) Act.
In January this year, the ED had attached Sai Resort at Dapoli in coastal Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra, worth more than Rs 10 crore, as part of a money laundering probe against Parab and others.
The ED had alleged that Parab in connivance with Kadam got illegal permission from the local sub-divisional office to convert agriculture-only land into one for non-agricultural use, and constructed a resort in violation of CRZ (coastal regulation zone) norms.