ED files charge sheet against lawyer Satish Uke, his brother in land grabbing case

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a prosecution complaint or charge sheet against activist-lawyer Satish Mahadevrao Uke and his elder brother Pradip Mahadevrao Uke in money laundering offence connected with land grabbing case situated at Nagpur.

Advocate Satish Uke has filed several cases against Bharatiya Janata Party leader Devendra Fadnavis, including one for filing a false election affidavit.

The federal agency filed the prosecution complaint on May 26 of which a special court in Mumbai took cognizance on Thursday (June 9).

Investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 was initiated on the basis of the First Information Report (FIR) registered by Ajni Police Station, Nagpur against Satish and Pradip, invoking, therein, the offence of land grabbing of original land owners situated at Nagpur, by creating fake and forged documents.

Investigation under PMLA revealed that Satish and Pradip had resorted to fraud and forgery and created fake Power of Attorney in the name of one Chandrashekhar Namdevrao Matte, and also forged government officials' signatures and usurped the lands from the original land owners with dubious and malafide intentions, said the ED.

"They have thereafter sold some of the lands and amassed huge amount through illegal means and thus have dealt with the proceeds of a crime connected with scheduled offence and thereby have committed offences of Section 3 of PMLA 2002. The proceeds of crime in the case have been quantified at Rs 38 crore," said the ED.

Residential premises of Satish and Pradip situated at Nagpur were searched on March 31 and incriminating documents and digital evidence were recovered.

After recording statements of both Satish and Pradip, the ED said they were placed under arrest on the same day for the commission of an offence under the provisions of Section 3 of PMLA Act, 2002. They were later produced before the PMLA Court in Mumbai and had been remanded to Judicial custody since then.

One of the cases was registered on January 23 based on a complaint lodged by one Mohammad Jaffar, nephew of late Mohammed Samad, who alleged that the Uke brothers had usurped their 5-acre land at Bokhara in Nagpur by creating fake documents.

The second FIR registered on July 31, 2018, is based on a complaint lodged by one Shobharani Nalode, secretary of Aishwari Sahakari Grih Nirman Sanstha, alleging that the Uke brothers had usurped the society's 1.5-acre land at Babulkheda in Nagpur. (ANI)