Mumbai, 29 July

The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday conducted searches at multiple premises linked to former Vasai Virar City Municipal Corporation (VVCMC) Commissioner Anil Pawar as part of a money laundering investigation linked to "large-scale" illegal construction under its jurisdiction.

Official sources said a dozen premises of Pawar, his family members, associates and alleged benamidars (in whose name a benami property is being held) in Virar, Mumbai and Nashik were searched under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Pawar has recently been transferred out from VVCMC.

According to reports, Pawar was given an official farewell on Monday.

The money laundering case stems from an FIR registered by the Mira Bhayandar Police Commissionerate against some builders, local henchmen and others.

The case, according to an ED statement issued earlier, pertains to "illegal" construction of residential-cum-commercial buildings on government and private land under the jurisdiction of VVMC since 2009.

Over a period of time, 41 illegal buildings were constructed on the land reserved for 'sewage treatment plant' and 'dumping ground' as per the approved development plan of Vasai Virar City, it had said.

"The accused builders and developers deceived the public at large by constructing illegal buildings on such land and subsequently sold it to the general public by fabricating approval documents," it said.

"Even with prior knowledge that these buildings were unauthorised and would eventually be demolished, the developers misled the people by selling rooms in these buildings thereby committing serious fraud," the ED alleged.

The Bombay High Court issued an order in July 2024 ordering the demolition of all the 41 buildings. The residents of these residential units subsequently filed a special leave petition (SLP) before the Supreme Court but this was dismissed and VVMC demolished these structures on 20 February.

Probe found, the ED said, that a "large cartel of architects, CAs, liasoners and VVCMC officials/officers are operating in collusion with each other."

"This cartel is responsible for large-scale illegal construction in the jurisdiction of VVCMC," it said.

The searches led to the recovery of "incriminating" digital devices which show the "involvement" of VVCMC officials in perpetrating this illegal construction scam, it said.

The digital devices also show the "close" nexus of VVCMC officials/officers with the architects, CA's and liasoners and the extent of "large-scale" corruption and black money flowing in the VVCMC to get the approval for construction of buildings, the ED said.

The first round of searches in this case were conducted by the ED in May. Following the second round of raids in July, the agency froze bank deposits and mutual funds of Rs 12.71 crore and seized cash of Rs 26 lakh apart from some "incriminating" documents and devices.