The properties of Congress leader Baba Siddique and others were raided on 31 May by the ED in a money laundering probe related to an alleged Rs 400-crore slum rehabilitation irregularities case.
Officials said the searches were conducted at about seven locations in the Maharashtra capital, including those belonging to Siddique, a real estate firm and a builder connected to him.
Siddique, a former minister in Maharashtra government, is known for his links with Bollywood celebrities. In 2013, he got superstars Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan into a much talked about patch-up hug.
Some front companies allegedly ‘connected to’ Siddique were also searched by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) teams.
The ED, they said, has registered a criminal case against Siddique and about a dozen others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) recently, based on a local police FIR.
The Bandra police had registered an FIR in 2014, on directions of a local court, to probe alleged financial irregularities in a slum rehabilitation project launched in suburban Bandra here.
Siddique was the chairman of the Mumbai board of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) between 2000-2004.
A complainant had approached a local court in 2012 stating that the flats allotted in the residential buildings constructed after demolishing the slum in the Bandra area were granted on the basis of alleged fake documents and had other irregularities.
The agency also suspects the use of certain ‘front’ or ‘benami’ companies in committing the alleged irregularities and hence the raids are being conducted to gather more evidence, they said.
The ex-minister had denied allegations made against him in this case in the past.
Siddique has been a three-time Congress MLA, Minister of State for food and Civil Supplies (during 2004-08) in the Maharashtra government, and has also served as a Municipal Corporator.
He regularly hosts grand Iftaar parties attended by a number of Bollywood celebrities.