ED assault against Baba Siddique, others in slum rehab case

Mumbai, May 31 The premises of Congress pioneer Baba Siddique were today assaulted by the ED in a money laundering probe related to an alleged Rs 400-crore ghetto restoration inconsistencies case.

Officials said the searches were led at around seven areas in the Maharashtra capital, including premises of Siddique, a land firm and a manufacturer associated with him.

Siddique, a former minister in Maharashtra government, is known for his connections with Bollywood famous people and got superstars Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan into an abundantly discussed fix up embrace in 2013, after years of reported frosty relations.

Some front organizations professedly "associated with" Siddique were likewise sought by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) groups, which swooped down of these premises early morning.

The ED, they stated, has registered a criminal argument against Siddique and around twelve others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) as of late, in light of a local police FIR.

The Bandra police had registered a FIR in 2014, on headings of a nearby court, to test claimed monetary inconsistencies in a ghetto restoration extend propelled in rural Bandra here, to which Siddique is charged to have been included.

Siddique has been the Chairman of the Mumbai leading group of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) between 2000-2004.

A complainant had moved toward a nearby court in 2012 expressing that the pads apportioned in the private structures built in the wake of obliterating the ghetto in the Bandra range were allowed on the premise of charged fake archives and had different abnormalities.

The organization additionally associates use with certain "front" or "benami" organizations in conferring the asserted inconsistencies and subsequently the assaults are being directed to accumulate more confirmation, they said.

The ex-minister had denied claims made against him for this situation previously.

Siddique has been a three-time Congress MLA, Minister of State for food and Civil Supplies (amid 2004-08) in the Maharashtra government and has additionally filled in as a Municipal Corporator.

His great Iftaar gatherings are gone to by a large group of Bollywood famous people. His 2013 gathering is associated with performing artists Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan grasping each other, indicating a defrost in their ties.