A team of ITD swooped on the Mazagaon home of corporator Yashwant Jadhav and his wife Yamini Jadhav and carried out searches.

 

Jadhav is the Chairman of the BMC's powerful Standing Committee which is authorised to prepare the civic budget and sanction expenditures for various works.

 

The action is said to have come after Bharatiya Janata Party ex-MP Dr. Kirit Somaiya lodged a complaint to the Centre in January, alleging "money-laundering, parking the scam money, hawala transactions" worth around Rs 30 crore, through various shell companies, indulged in by the Jadhav couple.

 

Somaiya also 'suggested' to the ITD and Enforcement Directorate (ED) to initiate suitable action against the couple without waiting for the outcome of reported moves by the Election Commission of India to disqualify Yamini Jadhav for allegedly not disclosing her assets truly in the poll affidavit.

 

The ITD operation came two days after a Maha Vikas Aghadi Minister of Nationalist Congress Party Nawab Malik was arrested in an alleged money-laundering case arising out of a 'tainted' land deal with mafia links.

 

Malik has been remanded to ED custody till March 3 even as the MVA constituents Sena-NCP-Congress carried out huge protests all over the state on Thursday, and the NCP demonstrations continue even today.