ED raids 16 places in second round of crackdown against syndicate behind unauthorised constructions in Vasai-Virar

Agency sources said the second round of searches primarily covers liaison officers, architects, and middlemen who allegedly coordinated between builders and VVMC officials.

The ED’s money laundering investigation is based on multiple FIRs registered by the Mira Bhayandar Vasai Virar police commissionerate against builders, local henchmen and others for “illegal construction of residential-cum-commercial buildings on government and private land” under the jurisdiction of VVMC since 2009.

Earlier, the documents seized during previous searches revealed a large-scale scam involving illegal construction in the Vasai Virar area, with complicity from officials of VVMC, according to the ED.

During the previous searches, ED covered the house of a former Bahujan Vikas Aghadi Party (BVA) corporator and an alleged criminal having links with a gangster.

According to the ED, 41 illegal buildings in question were constructed on the land reserved for “sewage treatment plant” and “dumping ground” as per the approved development plan of Vasai Virar city.

“The accused builders and developers deceived the public at large by constructing illegal buildings on such land and subsequently selling it to them by fabricating approval documents,” the ED said.

“Even with prior knowledge that these buildings were unauthorised and would eventually be demolished, the developers misled the people by selling rooms in these buildings, thereby committing serious fraud,” the agency added.

The 41 buildings were demolished on February 20, 2025, by the order of the Bombay High Court, which the Supreme Court later upheld. Families living in these buildings were left homeless.

According to the ED, key perpetrators of the alleged scam in the VVMC area have been identified as Sitaram Gupta, Arun Gupta, among others.

Reddy, the VVMC officer at the centre of the alleged fraud, was earlier arrested in April 2016 by the Thane unit of the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) for allegedly offering Rs 25 lakh to a Shiv Sena corporator to stop going ahead with court cases against him.