Bombay HC grants interim relief to NCP leader Eknath Khadse's wife in Pune land scam case

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has granted interim relief from arrest to the Nationalist Congress Party leader Eknath Khadse’s wife Mandakini yesterday till April 25 in a 2016 case related to a dubious land deal in Pune. She is charged with several sections of money laundering and prevention of corruption act and the Indian Penal Code.

Defense advocate cited number of medical conditions she suffers and opined this is the only case against her and said she has been cooperating with the investigation and appeared before the Enforcement Directorate.

In September a special court had initiated proceedings against Eknath Khadse and four others, including his wife Mandakini, and son-in-law Girish Choudhary, observing that there was a



prima facie case against them in the charge sheet filed by the ED.

On August 27, 2021, ED seized properties of Khadse located in Lonavala and Jalgaon in connection with the Bhosari Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) land deal case. The value of seized properties is over Rs 5 crore.

Khadse has also moved the high court to quash the complaint issued by ED last year in October alleging fraud by causing a loss of 62 crore Rs to the public exchequer.

As per ED, Khadse had misused his position as former state revenue minister and purchased the land at  3.75 crore Rs with the intent to seek compensation from the MIDC in the future.