ED says Nagpur lawyer who filed pleas against Fadnavis 'usurped' lands, resorted to fraud

Nagpur-based lawyer Satish Uke and his brother "usurped" lands in the city by creating fake power of attorney documents, the ED alleged on Tuesday.

The two were arrested by the federal probe agency under the anti-money laundering law on March 31 and were later taken to Mumbai where a local court remanded them to Enforcement Directorate custody till April 6.

The lawyer is known for filing petitions against senior BJP leader and former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis over the last few years.

The arrests came soon after the ED raided the lawyer's residence in the Parvati Nagar area of Nagpur that day (March 31).

The ED said its money laundering case against the brothers stems from two FIRs filed by the Nagpur Police (Ajni Police station) against the brothers.

The first police FIR was filed by Mohammad Jaffar, nephew of Late Mohammad Samad who was owner of a five acre land at Mouza Bokhara in Nagpur, against Satish Uke and Pradip Uke who have allegedly usurped the said land by creating fake documents, the ED said in a statement.

The second police FIR was filed by Shobharani Rajendra Nalode, secretary of Aishwari Sahakari Grih Nirman Sanstha against Satish Uke, Pradip Uke and others alleging that they have allegedly usurped her society's 1.5 acre land situated at Mouza Babulkheda in Nagpur, it said.

"From the investigation conducted so far, it became evident that Satish Uke and Pradip Uke resorted to fraud and forgery and created fake POA (power of attorney) in the name of Chandrashekhar Namdevrao Matte and Khairunisa and usurped the lands from the original land owners illegally," the statement said.

The lands are still in "illegal possession" of Satish Uke and Pradip Uke, it said.

The lawyer has filed several petitions in courts against BJP leaders, especially former Fadnavis.

In one of his applications, he had sought criminal proceedings against Fadnavis for "non-disclosure" of criminal cases in his election affidavit. Uke has alleged that the BJP leader filed a false affidavit in 2014 by hiding two criminal cases - of cheating and forgery - registered against him in 1996 and 1998.

He had also petitioned the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court seeking a police probe into the "suspicious and untimely" death of CBI judge B H Loya.

Judge Loya, who was presiding over the trial in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh alleged fake encounter case, had died reportedly due to a heart attack in Nagpur in 2014.

Satish Uke is also the lawyer for Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole, who has filed a Rs 500 crore defamation suit in a civil court here against IPS officer and former state intelligence chief Rashmi Shukla and others for alleged illegal tapping of his phone.

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