EOW questions Sena (UBT) leader Anil Desai regarding

MUMBAI: The Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai police on Tuesday questioned Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anil Desai for around seven hours in connection with an alleged ₹50 crore withdrawal from the party’s bank account after the Election Commission of India declared the Eknath Shinde-led faction as the real Shiv Sena.
“We have questioned Desai, as he was the authorised signatory of the party’s UBT faction and also used to take care of legal matters for the group. He is the authorised signatory for the party’s bank account as well, and we wanted to investigate on whose directions the money was withdrawn and who filed the TDS on behalf of the party even after the ECI decision. He has given us some answers. We will study them and if necessary, call him again,” said a police officer.
In January 2024, a delegation of Shinde Sena legislators led by deputy leader Kiran Pawaskar had met police commissioner Vivek Phansalkar to formally lodge a complaint regarding the alleged ₹50 crore withdrawal by Shiv Sena (UBT) from the party’s bank account. The complaint alleged that Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders refused to hand over the username and password for filing TDS (tax deducted at source) and I-T returns to the Shinde faction; instead, they impersonated party leaders and deliberately misused the login credentials to file TDS for the July-September 2023 quarter.
The complaint was recently entrusted by the police commissioner with the EOW after which a preliminary enquiry was registered, said an EOW officer.
Emerging from the EOW office after the interrogation, Desai claimed he and his party had done nothing wrong. “In a political party, everything happens as per the directions given by the party chief. The funds were that of the party. They had some questions and I have answered all their questions.”
In their complaint, the Shinde faction stated, “We represent the official party and also own the symbol. But for income tax returns, we can’t use the login ID and password as someone is misusing it. We did not want money, so we gave the party funds to the UBT group. We wish to know why they are using our login ID and password. This amounts to cheating.”
The complaint alleged that Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders as well as their chartered accountants knew that Uddhav Thackeray was not the leader of the political party, yet they misused the party’s username and password “intentionally and deliberately”. It noted that letters were sent to the joint commissioner of income tax and the additional commissioner of income tax (TDS-2 Mumbai) on December 15, 2023, and December 27, 2023, intimating them about the Thackeray faction’s refusal to share either financial documents, or the username and password for filing TDS and ITR.
The complaint stated that the Shinde-led Sena had applied for the issuance of a duplicate PAN and had updated the address and signing authorities of the political party after its issuance. It further mentioned that on January 10, 2024, the speaker of the assembly ruled that the faction headed by Eknath Shinde was the real Shiv Sena political party and that Eknath Shinde was validly appointed as leader by the political party.