MUMBAI: While stressing that no investigation is carried out without any basis, union minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday revealed that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) launched a probe against NCP leader Praful Patel after his signatures were found on the documents which were also signed by the wife of gangster Iqbal Mirchi.
"The ED has some documents with signatures of Patel and Hazra Iqbal Memon (Mirchi’s wife). The NCP has a track record of legendary corruption cases, hence the state should be worried about it," Goyal told reporters during a regular press briefing at the state BJP headquarters here on Thursday.
The Enforcement Directorate has summoned Patel on October 18 in connection with a probe into alleged illegal assets of Mirchi, who was an aide of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim.
The agency is expected to record Patel’s statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act regarding a deal between a real estate company promoted by Patel and his wife, and Hazra Memon.
Iqbal Mirchi, a drug lord and an accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, died in London in 2013. Patel had denied the allegations of having any financial links with Mirchi or his wife.