After EOW, ED too set to close case against Shinde Sena MP as the agency claim it didn’t find any proceeds of the crime

The EOW had filed a closure report in the case against Waikar by submitting a C-summary report to the court on July 4 — just months after he moved from the Sena UBT to Shinde Sena, and won the Mumbai North West Lok Sabha seat.

The Mumbai Police registered an FIR on September 14, 2023, against Waikar, his wife Manisha, and four associates based on a complaint by a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) engineer that Waikar used a plot of land reserved for a public garden to construct a hotel. Waikar was then with the Sena UBT led.

The EOW closed the case stating that the complaint was based on “incomplete information and misunderstanding”.

“Based on the investigation carried out, it appears that the issue of Waikar and other accused obtaining permission to construct the hotel under Development Control and Promotion Regulation is not criminal in nature as it is rather an administrative complaint. It is still not clear whether the people accused in the case have received any benefits. Hence, there is no wrongful loss or gain,” an EOW officer said.

Meanwhile, ED sources hinted that they were only looking into the money laundering aspect of the case and they too did not discover any proceeds of the crime. Hence they too will soon close the case against Waikar, sources said.

Waikar, Manisha, his business partners Aasoo Nehlanai, Raj Lalchandani and Prithpal Bindra, and architect Arun Dubey were booked for criminal breach of trust, cheating and criminal conspiracy on the complaint filed by BMC sub-engineer Santosh Mandavkar.

According to the EOW FIR, Waikar had entered into a contract with the BMC after getting permission to run a sports facility at the plot in Jogeshwari. The permission was granted when the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government was in power. In early 2023, BMC issued a notice for using a plot of land reserved for a public garden to construct a hotel.

BJP leader Kirit Somaiya had then alleged that Waikar fraudulently obtained approval for construction of a five-star hotel on the plot reserved for a garden by using his political clout and causing a huge loss to the BMC.

The ED had in October 2023 registered a case under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) based on EOW’s FIR and subsequently in January this year, the agency raided seven places including Waikar’s residence and premises of other accused named in the case.

During the course of the probe, both Mumbai police’s EOW and the ED had summoned him for questioning.

On March 10, Waikar, who was considered a close associate of Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, joined the Sena faction led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. This came days after the BMC informed the Supreme Court that a decision to cancel the permission of the construction of the 5-star hotel was being reconsidered.

Earlier, in June 2023, the BMC issued an order in which it declared that it was cancelling the permission granted to Waikar to construct a five-star hotel in Jogeshwari.

Interestingly, in the middle of the Lok Sabha elections, Waikar had said, “I was already under pressure but it increased more when my wife’s name was also being embroiled (in the legal case)… Then you had no option but to switch sides. The situation that destiny brought on me, should not befall on anyone.”

Waikar contested from Mumbai North West seat in the Lok Sabha elections and defeated Sena UBT’s Amol Kirtikar by 48 votes, the lowest winning margin across the country.