NCP leader Hasan Mushrif wonders if ED action targeted at a 'particular community'

Senior Nationalist Congress Party leader from Maharashtra, Hasan Mushrif, on Wednesday, wondered whether the searches being conducted by the Enforcement Directorate were directed against people from a "particular caste and community".

The searches were conducted at multiple premises in Maharashtra as part of a money laundering investigation against Mushrif and others. The raids are understood to be linked to a probe related to alleged irregularities in the operations of some sugar mills based in the state that are linked to Mushrif, officials said.

In a video message, Mushrif, the MLA from Kagal in Kolhapur district, said the ED raided his residence and that of his daughter and other relatives.

"Earlier it was (NCP leader) Nawab Malik, then it's me. Kirit Somaiya says (action could be taken against Congress leader) Aslam Shaikh. I wonder if they have decided to target a particular caste or community," the former Maharashtra rural development minister said.

Also Read | ED raids places linked to NCP leader Hasan Mushrif in Kolhapur

Malik, also a former minister, was arrested last February under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) by the ED in a probe linked to the activities of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his aides.

Former BJP MP Kirit Somaiya has accused Mushrif of indulging in corrupt practices and said the ongoing raids by the ED on properties linked to the former minister were long due.

"Mushrif has been involved in various corrupt practices including several contracts given during his tenure as the rural development minister. The raids will unearth more dirt of Mushrif's deeds," he told reporters.

Somaiya alleged Mushrif was involved in financial misappropriation pertaining to a sugar mill in Kolhapur in western Maharashtra.

In July 2019, the Income Tax department carried out searches at the residence of Mushrif and a sugar mill run by him in Kolhapur district over alleged discrepancies in the mill's account books.

Meanwhile, Mushrif appealed to NCP workers not to go ahead with the Kagal bandh in protest against the ED action. He said a similar raid was conducted by a Central agency earlier but nothing came out of it.

Mushrif alleged BJP leaders from Kagal had visited Delhi seeking action against him. However, Mushrif's supporters staged an agitation in Kagal following which the police put up a barricade near his residence.

The protesters alleged the ED action is wrong and taken out of the malaise.