ED raids former Congress MLA Baba Siddique's firms in Rs 500 crore money laundering case
The agency recently filed an ECIR against 9 entities, including Baba Siddiqui, Rafique Maqbool Qureshi and Najmuddin Mithi Borwala of the Pyramid Developers and 3 firms, allegedly involved in irregularities worth Rs 500 crore in a slum rehabilitation project in Bandra.
The Enforcement Directorate is conducting raids on former Congress MLA Baba Siddique's residence and his companies at several locations in Mumbai.
A few days ago, the agency had filed an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) against 9 entities, including Baba Siddiqui, Rafique Maqbool Qureshi and Najmuddin Mithi Borwala of the Pyramid Developers and three companies, allegedly involved in irregularities worth Rs 500 crore in a slum rehabilitation project at the Bandra Reclamation location.
ED had started working on the case after the FIR was filed against all these names by Mumbai Police following directions given by the metropolitan magistrate court.
The court had asked the police to investigate the case and file a report.
COMPLAINT FILED IN 2012
In 2012, a complaint had been filed by a local activist about the irregularities.
According to the complaint, several slum dwellers of the Jamaat-e-Jamooria slum in Bandra had forged their ration cards to secure more than one room for their families in the seven SRA (slum rehabilitation authority) buildings that came up after the demolition of that slum.
These irregularities were carried out in the SRA buildings by the Pyramid Developers, which is owned by Baba Siddique.
BUILDINGS NOT APPROVED BY MHADA
Allegations were these buildings were not approved by the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority.
Despite that, these buildings had an FSI (floor space index) of 1.87, while it should have been 1.5.
Incidentally that time, Baba was the chairman of MHADA (Maharashtra Housing and Development Authority), the body that cleared this project.
Sources from ED have confirmed, "Baba sold these SRA flats, with a size of 2,700 square feet, with three parkings to many big names including few filmstars. Our investigation is under progress."
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