HC slams EOW over probe

The Bombay high court on Friday expressed its displeasure towards the Economic Offences Wing of Mumbai police and said that it was not investigating the allegations of money laundering and land grabbing against Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Sunil Tatkare in the “right manner”. A division bench of Justices Dhananjaya Chandrachud and Mahesh Sonak was hearing a petition filed by BJP leader Kirit Somaiya seeking a probe by a special investigation team into alleged money laundering and land grabbing by various companies floated by Mr Tatkare and his relatives. The court, after reading the EOW’s report on Friday, said, “The EOW has not investigated only. They seem to be relying just on the material provided by the petitioner Kirit Somaiya. They have not done anything independently.” Advocate General Darius Khambata submitted reports of ACB, EOW and the collector of Raigad district. “The EOW’s focus appears to be to see if there is any offence under the Indian Penal Code. However, so far, they seem to have found no evidence to suggest so,” Mr Khambata said. The court said it would peruse all the reports, and posted the matter for further hearing on October 1.