Stud-farm owner Hasan Ali Khan's Chartered Accountant Sunil Shinde was under the Enforcement Directorate (ED)'s scanner on Wednesday. The ED officials searched Mr. Shinde's house and interrogated him at his residence in the 10-hour operation that started at 9.30 a.m.
The investigation comes in the backdrop of alleged reports that Mr. Khan has informed the investigating agencies that top Indian politicians and bureaucrats, including three former Maharashtra Chief Ministers, have a share in the large portion of his money stashed away in Swiss bank accounts.
According to Mr. Shinde, there were six ED officials conducting the investigation. “They asked for Hasan Ali Khan's bank account details from 2001 to 2009. They have taken a hard disk too. They also raided my office for investigation,” Mr. Shinde said. He has been Mr. Khan's CA since 2007, and deals with his transactions within India. Mr. Shinde will appear before the ED in Mumbai on Thursday.
Mr. Shinde was in Mumbai in order to appear before the income tax appellate tribunal in a case against Mr. Khan, when he was called back to Pune by the ED Officials. He arrived in a car belonging to Mr. Khan.
Speaking to the media briefly earlier in the day, Mr. Shinde said: “I was in Mumbai and had no idea about the investigation here.”
Mr. Khan was arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act on March 7.
