Dapoli resort case: HC extends Anil Parab’s interim protection till Dec 5 in ED case

A division bench of Justices Ajey S Gadkari and Sharmila Deshmukh was hearing Wankhede’s plea against the ED case, based on an FIR registered by the Ratnagiri police. The HC said it will hear Parab’s plea on December 5 to decide whether the same could be admitted by the court.

The state government earlier submitted that the Ratnagiri police had completed the probe and filed a chargesheet, cognisance of which was taken by the Khed sessions court on June 19.

The HC will also hear the plea by the Ministry of Environment and Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), challenging the Khed sessions court order, which had set aside the initiation of proceedings by the magistrates’ court in a private complaint filed by the ministry in the case.

In 2022, the Dapoli police in Ratnagiri district had registered a case of cheating against MLC Parab and two others in connection with the alleged Dapoli resort fraud case under Indian Penal Code sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention).

The FIR was registered based on a complaint filed by BJP leader Kirit Somaiya, who alleged several irregularities in the construction of Sai Resort in Dapoli — which according to his claim was owned by former minister Parab, and his close associate Sadanand Kadam. Somaiya claimed Parab had partaken in a Rs 10-crore scam.