The ED on Friday attached over 200 acres of land and other assets worth a total Rs 78.38 crore of a Jalna-based sugar mill linked to Shiv Sena leader and former party MLA Arjun Khotkar in connection with the alleged Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) scam-linked money laundering probe.
Apart from the land, plant, machinery and building belonging to the Jalna Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana (SSK) Ltd. located at Sawargaon Hadap village in the said district have been attached after the agency issued a provisional order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the Enforcement Directorate said in a statement. The assets of Jalna SSK are ”currently held in the name of Arjun Sugar Industries Pvt. Ltd., a company incorporated by Arjun Khotkar and others on May 8, 2012 only with a view to purchase the Jalna SSK Ltd.”, the federal probe agency said.
Sixty-year-old Khotkar has been a Shiv Sena party MLA from Jalna and has also served as a minister in the Maharashtra government. He is considered close to party supremo and Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray who is currently battling a political crisis caused by rebellious MLAs of his party which is in power in the state along with the NCP and Congress.
The ED last year had similarly attached assets worth Rs 65 crore of a Satara-based sugar mill in the MSCB scam case and had said that a company linked to state deputy chief minister and NCP leader Ajit Pawar and his wife were involved in the case. The MSCB money…