NAGPUR, Mar 31: The ED on Thursday carried out a search operation at the house of a Nagpur-based lawyer, who has filed a few petitions against senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis in the last few years, a police official said.
The lawyer, Satish Uke, whose house located in Parvati Nagar area of Nagpur was searched, was later taken to the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) office in the city along with his brother for interrogation by the the central agency officials, Uke’s close aide said.
The ED began searching Uke’s house around 6 am amid tight security by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). The Mumbai unit of the central agency searched the premises in connection with some land transactions, the police official said.
The lawyer’s close aide later said that Uke and his brother were taken to the ED office located in Seminary Hills area for interrogation around 11 am.
“The officials also brought with them Uke’ laptop, some documents and four cellphones belonging to his family members to the ED office for examination,” he said.
Uke has filed several petitions in courts against BJP leaders, especially former Maharashtra chief minister Fadnavis. In one of his applications, he had sought criminal proceedings against Fadnavis for the “non-disclosure” of criminal cases in his election affidavit. Uke has alleged that the BJP leader filed a false affidavit in 2014 by hiding two criminal cases – of cheating and forgery – registered against him in 1996 and 1998.
The lawyer had also petitioned the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court seeking a police probe into the “suspicious and untimely” death of CBI judge B H Loya. Judge Loya, who was presiding over the trial in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh alleged fake encounter case, had died reportedly due to a heart attack in Nagpur in 2014.
Uke is also the lawyer of Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole, who has filed a Rs 500 crore defamation suit in a civil court here against IPS officer and former state intelligence chief Rashmi Shukla and others for alleged illegal tapping of his phone. (PTI)
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