A magistrate court on Thursday, November 15, accepted the closure report filed by the Mumbai Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) and closed the case against Shiv Sena leader Ravindra Waikar, his wife Manisha, and four close associates in the Jogeshwari land case.
Waikar, who joined the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha election, won Mumbai’s North West parliamentary seat by a narrow margin of 48 votes. Following this, EOW filed a closure report in a case registered against him and his associates.
Investigators alleged that the complaint filed n behalf of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), was based on ‘incomplete information and misunderstanding,' according to the C-summary report filed in the city court. The C-summary report is filed in cases where the FIR is found to be based on a mistake of fact.
The complainant was summoned and the investigating officer was heard on the reasons to file a closure report after which the court accepted the C-Summary report.
According to the FIR, Waikar had entered into a contract with the BMC after getting permission to run a sports facility at the plot in Jogeshwari. The permission was granted when the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government was in power. In early 2023, a notice was issued to him for using a plot of land—reserved for a public garden—to construct a hotel.