Panchayat, revenue officials pressured to give permission for Sai Resort, ED tells court

“Sadanand Kadam, on behalf of Anil Parab, liased with various government officials to obtain permissions for converting the said land use from agricultural to non-agricultural use and construction of twin bungalows. He pressured the revenue department officials and obtained illegal permission on September 12, 2017,” the ED said in its remand application.

The agency claimed that officials, despite having complete knowledge that the land where the resort had come up fell under CRZ-III, granted permission “due to pressure of Sadanand Kadam on behalf of Anil Parab”.

It also alleged that in a meeting held at Parab’s residence, when an architect informed Kadam that the land was in a no development zone, he was informed that there was “mutual understanding” between Parab and Kadam that the latter would handle the work of acquiring permissions.

Parab had been questioned by the ED and has maintained that the resort does not belong to him.

The ED further said that the Ratnagiri town planning department had informed the revenue department in October 2017 that construction cannot be done on the said land. It claimed that the department did not bring this on record or cancel the permission granted but instead ignored the communication.

The ED alleged that while the permission was granted illegally for a ground plus one structure, the plan was later changed to make room for a ground plus two structure. The agency said that unaccounted money was used in the construction and once it came to light that there were alleged irregularities, Parab sold the land to Kadam in 2020.

The ED claimed that while the value of the land in Dapoli is Rs 2.73 crore, the resort was valued at Rs 7.46 crore, allegedly generated by cheating government authorities. It also alleged that the proceeds of crime are worth Rs 10.2 crore.
The agency, through Special Public Prosecutor Sunil Gonsalves told the court that while Kadam had claimed to have spent Rs 3.59 crore to construct the resort, payment to various vendors remained outstanding. It added that the land was bought from its previous owner in 2017, partly paid in cash, but the sale deed was registered two years later in 2019 to conceal that Parab was the new owner. The agency said that while Parab had bought only land from the previous owner, the resort was constructed before the sale deed was signed to “legitimise” it.

Lawyer Niranjan Mundargi, representing Kadam, told the court that while ED was claiming that Kadam had not cooperated, the agency had failed to mention that his statement was recorded four times last year. He added that the resort was not functional and hence, the allegations of discharge of pollutants cannot be true. He claimed that Kadam was being made a scapegoat to reach someone else.

The ED case was initially registered on the basis of a complaint filed by the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate last March on charges of “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 by a court last November.