The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday summoned NCP leader and former union minister Praful Patel in connection with property deal linked to Dawood-aide late Iqbal Mirchi.
A drug smuggler who died in London in 2013, Iqbal Mirchi was a close aide of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, who has been declared a global terrorist. The agency is investigating allegations of a quid pro quo in the deal, according to which, the minister helped the fugitive criminal.
It has been alleged that Patel redeveloped a Mumbai property, Ceejay House – allegedly owned by Mirchi – in 2005.
He has already been questioned by the ED in an another money laundering case linked to the aviation scam. According to ED officials, Patel’s Millennium Developers Pvt Ltd constructed a building called Ceejay House in 2006-07 and its third and fourth floors were transferred to Mirchi’s wife Hajra Iqbal.
