PIL before Bombay High Court alleges Uddhav Thackeray, family holding disproportionate assets; seeks CBI, ED probe

A public interest litigation (PIL) petition has been filed before Bombay High Court alleging that Uddhav Thackeray and his family hold disproportionate assets and should be probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) [Gouri Bhide and Anr. vs Union of India and Ors.] .The plea came up for hearing today before a bench of Justices SV Gangapurwala and RN Laddha asked the petitioner, Gauri Bhide, to clear the procedural objections raised by the High Court registry which are raised when fresh petitions are filed."First clear out the office objections and when the objections are removed and petition is ready, the same will be taken up for hearing," the Bench said. It then listed the matter for hearing on November 16. .The PIL filed by Bhide claimed that although Uddhav, his son Aditya, and wife Rashmi have never disclosed any service, profession or business as their official source of income; they had properties worth crores in Mumbai and Raigad districts.Further, it was stated that recent raids by the CBI and ED in Maharashtra revealed that close aides of Uddhav, Aditya and Rashmi were closely interrogated and were under the radar of the agencies."It is crystal clear that the huge undisclosed properties, cash and other wealth found with those persons have a close nexus to Respondent No.5 to No.7," the plea added..The petitioner further expressed astonishment at periodicals 'Marmik' and 'Saamna' - run by the Thackeray family - never being subjected to the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) and claimed that during the lockdown, when print media in the country was facing heavy losses, the company ‘Prabodhan Prakashan Pvt. Ltd.’, practically owned by Thackeray family, showed a huge turnover of ₹42 crores and booked a profit of ₹11.5 crores.In view of the above, she claimed that it was a clear case of turning black money to white."The unaccounted money gathered from BMC and other sources might have been dishonestly digested into the accounts of the above mentioned company and fictitious figures of profit have been shown for this digestion. This is not just a guess or baseless allegation. The Statement of Accounts of these companies will clearly reveal the fact. However, a thorough and impartial investigation needs to be there," the plea stated.She further stated that although she had filed a complaint with the Police Commissioner, Mumbai which was also forwarded to Economic Offences Wing (EOW), no action was taken and neither was she informed about the status of her complaint. This prompted her to file the PIL, it was submitted..The petition therefore sought directions to the State to take cognisance of the complaint filed with Mumbai Police and to the respondent agencies to submit status of investigation every month to the court..Notably, Bhide in her PIL also stated that she had a hunch that BJP leader Kirit Somaiya or even CBI and ED must have huge information and links pertaining to Uddhav, Rashmi, Aditya and Tejas Thackeray."I have a hunch that activist Shri Kirit Somaiya or even both the respondent central agencies must have huge information and links pertaining to the respondents 5 to 8," it was submitted.