ED files chargesheet in Sai Resort case, Sena UBT’s Anil Parab not named as accused

The ED has named Sadanand Kadam, the alleged associate of Parab, who was arrested by the ED on March 10 as well as Jayram Deshpande, a deputy collector rank officer, arrested on March 14. The two are still in custody with hearing on their bail pleas pending.

The ED is also learnt to have named Sudhir Pardule, a revenue officer, Suresh Tupe, a former sarpanch, Anant Koli, a gram sevak and one Vinod Dipolkar.

The prosecution complaint (chargesheet) was filed on Saturday before the special court designated under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. It is still under verification at the registry department and the court is still to take its cognizance. Parab was summoned and questioned multiple times by the ED over the past few months in connection with the the case.

At the time of the arrested of his alleged aide, Kadam, the ED had claimed that the resort, at Dapoli in Ratnagiri district, was constructed in a Non-Development Zone with violations of the Coastal Regulation Zone norms.

The ED had alleged that Kadam on behalf of Parab liased with various government officials to obtain the permissions for converting the said land use from agricultural to non-agricultural use and construction of twin bungalows.

Sadanand Kadam pressured the revenue department officials of the state government and obtained illegal permission on September 12, 2017, the ED claimed.

Parab has maintained that the resort does not belong to him and that relevant documents have been submitted to the authorities.

The ED claimed that unaccounted money was used in the construction of the resort and once it came to light that there were alleged irregularities. Parab had sold the land to Kadam in 2020.

The ED claimed that the value of the land is Rs 2.73 crore and value of resort is Rs 7.46 crore allegedly generated out of criminal activities by cheating government authorities.

The ED’s complaint was initially registered on the basis of a complaint filed by the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate in March 2022 under the charges for “penalty of discharging environmental pollutants in excess of prescribed standards”.

A separate case of cheating was filed at Dapoli police station against Parab and others, in which the leader was granted anticipatory bail in November last year. The others including Pardule, Tupe and Koli were granted bail in that case.