Bombay High Court Refuses Bail To Sadanand Kadam, 'Close Aide' Of Shiv Sena (UBT) MLC Anil Parab In Dapoli Resort Case

The Bombay High Court on Monday refused bail to Sadanand Kadam, a close associate of Shiv Sena (UBT) MLC Anil Parab, accused in a money laundering case in connection with the construction of an allegedly illegal resort named 'Sai Resort' in Dapoli, situated in Maharashtra's Ratnagiri district.

Justice MS Karnik pronounced the order.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Kadam in March 2023 in the money laundering case. He approached the High Court after his bail application was rejected by the Special PMLA Court in October.

The ED case was that Parab sold the land to Kadam to conceal illegalities and irregularities.

In its detailed bail order the trial court, said prima facie it appeared that Kadam acted as Parab's frontman to put pressure on authorities. This included liasoning work, pressurising the revenue and other authorities for legalising the work which was all basically illegal, the court said.

ED alleged that in 2017 Parab wanted to build on the land in Ratnagiri and approached Kadam for this. However, the land identified for the construction was found to be in a No-Development Zone. It was submitted that there was a mutual understanding between the parties that Kadam would get the job done and therefore the land was sold to him.

The bench was of the view that owning to the complete prohibition on development under the Environment Protection Act, all revenue generated must be considered proceeds of crime.

The court further said that prima facie the revenue authorities of Dapoli and Gram Panchayat seemed to be under pressure from Parab and Kadam.

Before the High Court, senior advocate Amit Desai and advocate Sudeep Pasbola argued there was no predicate offence against Kadam as mandated, for a case under the PMLA Act since the Magistrate hadn't taken cognisance of the private complaint.

Desai argued that unconnected FIRs and thereby causes of action were being used as predicate offences in ECIRs.

It was submitted that Parab had merely purchased the land from Pune businessman Vibhas Sathe. It was pointed out that in his statement to ED, Sathe had spoken about pressure from BJP leader Kirit Somaiya.

However, Additional Solicitor General Devang Vyas, asserted there was a predicate offence registered at the Dapoli police station for cheating, and hence bail could not be granted.

Accordingly, the bench refused the prayer for bail.

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