Khadse in more trouble: Charges of illegal purchase of MIDC land levelled against minister

Pune: In a fresh allegation against state Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse, a local builder on Monday claimed that he misused his power to buy a piece of land owned by the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation in the name of his wife and son-in-law. [caption id=“attachment_2795588” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Eknath Khadse. PTI[/caption] Last week, AAP targeted Khadse alleging that calls were made from the fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s house in Karachi to a mobile phone used by the minister, a charge which Khadse rubbished as “baseless” saying the phone number was not in use for last one year. Hemant Gavande, a local construction professional, alleged here on Monday that market value of the three-acre land in Bhosari near here was approximately Rs 40 crore, but Khadse purchased it from the original owner in the name of his wife Mandakini and son-in-law Girish Chaudhary at a throwaway price of Rs 3.75 crore. The land was purchased on 28 April, 2016 from the original owner Abbas Ukani, a resident of West Bengal, keeping its present owner, MIDC, in the dark, he alleged. “Since land is acquired by MIDC and owned by it, it cannot be sold to any person or entity,” Gavande stated. The original owner had now approached the court, requesting that the land should be returned to him, he said. “I have informed the MIDC officials about the deal and asked them to file a police complaint. If they fail to do it, I will lodge a complaint,” Gavande said. Meanwhile, a statement from Khadse’s office in the evening said, “There was no question of changing reservation of MIDC plot at Bhosari as acquisition process was in progress. The process for acquisition of land is being independently implemented by MIDC.” Purchase transaction and acquisition were two separate legal processes, it added.