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ED Cleared to Question Key Aide as Fresh Raids Expand Ashok Kharat Money-Laundering Probe

Investigators are pivoting to reconstruct alleged cash routes through proxy accounts.

Overview

  • The Enforcement Directorate searched Kharat-linked premises on Friday in Nashik, including a sealed office that held property files and digital records.
  • A special court under India’s anti–money laundering law allowed ED officers to question jailed aide Arvind Bawke as a key suspect tied to about 60 third‑party bank accounts.
  • Kharat was sent to judicial custody till April 30 in a fourth sexual‑assault case, then to five days of police custody in a fifth case.
  • Officials say earlier actions seized Rs 42 lakh in cash, froze roughly Rs 2.4 crore, and recovered dozens of land papers, servers, hard disks, and a high‑end SUV.
  • The probe now centers on suspected benami properties and cooperative‑credit‑society accounts that investigators allege were opened in others’ names to move cash into land deals.