ED arrests Eknath Khadse's son-in-law in money laundering case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Nationalist Congress Party leader Eknath Khadse's son-in-law Girish Chaudhary in a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in a 2016 purchase of a land plot in Pune, officials said on Wednesday.

They said Chaudhary was arrested on Tuesday night after he was questioned at length in the case at the office of the central investigative agency in south Mumbai.

The officials alleged that Chaudhary was not cooperative during the questioning.

He is expected to be produced before a special court that tries cases registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Khadse, 68, had left the Bharatiya Janata Party to join the NCP of former Maharashtra chief minister Sharad Pawar last year.

He was questioned in the case by the ED early this year.

Khadse, 68, had resigned from the then Devendra Fadnavis-led Maharashtra cabinet in 2016 after facing allegations regarding the same land deal.

It was alleged that he misused his official powers to facilitate the purchase of government land of the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) by his family in the Bhosari area of Pune.

He denied any wrongdoing, saying that the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau as well as the Income Tax department had given him a clean chit in the matter.