ED raids NCP leader, former Minister Hasan Mushrif’s home, factories in Maharashtra

In 2019, the IT department had raided the leader’s sugar factory premises

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on January 11 raided the home and factories of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and former Maharashtra Minister Hasan Mushrif in Kolhapur’s Kagal, and in Pune in a case of alleged money laundering.

In 2019, the Income Tax Department had similarly raided Mr. Mushrif’s residences and factory premises. The opposition MVA hit out at the ED raid, with NCP MP Supriya Sule and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut accusing the Shinde-Fadnavis govt. of misusing investigating agencies to target opposition leaders.

BJP leader Kirit Somaiya, who has been the most vociferous in accusing Mr. Mushrif, said that the NCP leader’s “countdown had begun” while accusing ex-CM Uddhav Thackeray of attempting to save him in the past.

In the past, Mr. Somaiya has accused Mr. Mushrif and his relatives of being involved in a ₹127 crore money laundering scam case in the Kagal area.

“Mr. Mushrif and his family, including his son, have created companies which in turn have had transactions with Kolkata-based shell companies. Their financial transactions are shown in their bank accounts receiving income from those companies which did not exist,” the former BJP MP had alleged, who is also the vice-president of the party’s Maharashtra unit.