The Enforcement Directorate yesterday (28th May) arrested builder and post-production studio owner Yusuf Lakdawala in a money-laundering case related to a Khandala land grab issue. He was produced before the court which remanded him to the ED’s custody for five days. The Khandala property, worth Rs. 50 crore, belonged to eminent writer Mulk Raj Anand who had purchased it from the Nizam of Hyderabad.
A few years after Anand’s demise, Lakdawala and his accomplice, Mohan Nair, forged government records to show that his (Lakdawala’s) father — and not Mulk Raj Anand — had purchased the land from the Nizam in 1949, and he was its owner.
Earlier, the Bombay police had arrested Yusuf Lakdawala in a cheating case which they were investigating in the Khandala land grab allegation. He had been released on bail only a few months back. After his release, the ED summoned Lakdawala for his statement, but he refused to appear because of the pandemic. On 27th May, a team of ED officials persuaded Yusuf Lakdawala to accompany them for questioning at the ED office. After several hours of questioning, the ED arrested him when he refused to provide details related to the case.
During investigations, the ED learnt that Yusuf Lakdawala had transferred Rs. 2 crore into the account of his accomplice, Mohan Nair, who had then used the money to forge documents and procure an NOC from family members of the Nizam after misleading them. The ED officials had earlier found incriminating documents from Lakdawala’s premises, which indicated that he had many shell and dummy companies