ED searches seven locations linked to Sena MP Gawali

Last week, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kirit Somaiya had told The Indian Express that action would be taken against Gawali in connection with “a Rs 100-crore fraud”.

Somaiya’s car was attacked with stones and ink last week when he was in Washim district to visit Shri Balaji Particle Board Limited unit at Risod, which is at the center of the alleged fraud.

Gawali, the five-term Sena Parliamentarian from Yavatmal-Washim, said the ED raid was akin to the Emergency.

“I was not given any notice by the ED. The ED officials have come to my institutions and are investigating. This is akin to the Emergency and all the Shiv Sena leaders are being targeted,” said the MP. “When there was some mismatch in the accounts, I myself had lodged an FIR regarding my institution. But, picking up a single sentence and single number from it and making it look like a big thing is being done by some political leaders. Children from rural areas have been studying in my institution for the last 20 years,” said Gawali, while speaking with media persons, after the ED searches on her institution.

Gawali asked if similar investigations would be carried out against a BJP MLA who has been accused of corruption. Without naming the legislator, Gawali said, “He has also committed a scam of Rs 500 crore. Will the Union government also initiate an ED probe into it? This is my question,” she said.