Nationalist Congress Party (NCP-SP) leader and Member of Parliament Supriya Sule raised concerns over the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) failure to take action against Walmik Karad, who arrested in an extortion case linked to sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh's murder.
Sule, addressing a press conference today, questioned why the ED had not acted on a notice issued to Karad in March 2022, despite an FIR being filed. Holding up the ED's notice, Sule said, "We have three demands. The first demand is that financial fraud and extortion should come under the scope of PMLA and ED. If it falls under their jurisdiction, then why is there no action being taken in the case of extortion, even though an FIR has been filed?"
"We know from your channel that a person named Walmik Karad has been arrested, and an ED notice was sent from the finance ministry in Delhi on 14th March 2022. What happened after that? It is a simple question. When extortion was first defined under Manmohan Singh’s government, it was supposed to be under the PMLA and ED’s jurisdiction. So, why is no action being taken in this case even though an FIR has been registered?" NCP-SP MP added.
Sule further criticized the appointment of Karad as the president of the Parli taluka under the 'Ladki Bahin Yojana', despite his involvement in an extortion case. Sule said that the issue would be raised in Parliament.