NCP leader Khadse's son-in-law out on bail in money-laundering case

More than two years after his arrest, Girish Chaudhari, the son-in-law of senior Nationalist Congress Party leader Eknath Khadse, on Tuesday walked out of jail on securing bail from the Supreme Court in a money laundering case linked to a 2016 land deal in Pune.

Chaudhari was released from Arthur Road Jail in central Mumbai after completion of formalities, including furnishing of a cash bail of Rs 1 lakh, his lawyer Mohan Tekavde said.

The Supreme Court granted him bail on July 21. However, his bail formalities before the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act court in Mumbai, presiding over the case, were completed only on Tuesday, felicitating his release.

As per directions of the SC, the special PMLA court judge laid down certain conditions for Chaudhari's release, which included surrender of his passport to the Enforcement Directorate, the agency probing the money laundering case.

As part of bail terms, he has been asked to attend ED's office on the first Friday of every month and not to leave the jurisdiction of the special court (Mumbai) without its permission.

Chaudhari should attend each and every court hearing and co-operate with the probe agency for expeditious disposal of the trial, the special court said.

Talking about the bail, advocate Tekavde said they submitted before the apex court that no loss was caused to the state exchequer due to the Pune land deal.

Apart from this, the Bombay High Court had granted an interim stay on the predicate offence (defined under the PMLA) against him and hence his custody was not required, the advocate said.

Chaudhari was arrested by the ED on July 7, 2021, under the provisions of the PMLA.

Earlier, he had been denied bail by both the special court and the HC.

The ED case stems from an FIR filed by the Pune police's Anti-Corruption Bureau against Khadse, a former state minister who is currently an MLC, his wife Mandakini and Chaudhari in April 2017.

The central agency claimed alleged irregularities in the land deal caused a loss of Rs 61.25 crore to the exchequer as those involved "fraudulently entered into a sale deed".

The plot under the scanner is owned by state-run Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation and is located in Haveli taluka of Bhosari in Pune district.

The ED has alleged that with the connivance of others, Chaudhari "knowingly entered into a sale deed to acquire the said land, despite the plot belonging to the MIDC, to avail compensation more than 2.5-3 times of its actual value".

The land was registered at a much lower rate of Rs 3.75 crore as against the prevailing value of Rs 31 crore, claimed the anti-money laundering agency.

Khadse, the then-state revenue minister, had resigned from the Devendra Fadnavis cabinet in 2016 after facing allegations regarding the land deal and some other issues.

It was alleged he misused his official position to facilitate the land deal.

Khadse, a former BJP minister who joined the NCP in 2020, has denied any wrongdoing, saying the state police as well as the Income Tax Department, which also probed the case, had given him a "clean chit" in the matter.