Mumbai, Mar 8 (PTI) A Pune-based businessman on Tuesday approached Mumbai Police with a written complaint seeking registration of a case against builder-cum-restaurateur Jitendra Navlani, who was earlier in the day accused by Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut of being involved in extortion incidents along with some Enforcement Directorate officials.

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The complainant Arvind Bhosale, a developer, in his letter to Mumbai's police commissioner, alleged that Navlani was "one of the conduits of the ED who would first give information to the personnel and thereupon that named person would be summoned by ED officials under the pretext of investigating the Prevention of Money Laundering Act".

The letter further alleged that Navlani would then extort money from such persons who had been issued notices by the ED.

It alleged that several ED officials, mandated with probing cases under the PMLA, were themselves involved in money laundering, adding that over Rs 100 crore had been extorted so far from 70 entities.

Bhosale claimed Rs 59 crore had been paid between 2015 and 2020 as "consultancy fees" to Navlani, who, the letter alleged, had no educational qualifications as such to offer consultancy.

Bhosale demanded that Navlani be booked and a special investigation team be formed to probe and unravel this extortion racket.

Navlani's name had also allegedly appeared in a letter written by a police inspector to the state's additional chief secretary in connection with the closing of bars on time in Mumbai's Breach Candy area, officials claimed.

Navlani did not respond to calls or messages seeking his comment.

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday evening, Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut claimed that Navlani had seven companies.

"Whenever there has been an ED probe, Navlani's company received money from the company which was raided by the central agency. The companies have no office, no staff,” he claimed.

Raut also furnished a list of companies, which he claimed, transferred money to Navlani's firms.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)