Money-laundering case: Court extends ED custody of Nagpur-based lawyers Satish Uke, his brother till April 11

The Mumbai PMLA court on Wednesday extended the Enforcement Directorate custody of Nagpur-based advocates Satish Uke and his brother Pradeep Uke till April 11 in connection with a money laundering case.

Both were arrested by the probe agency under the anti-money laundering law on March 31 from Nagpur in connection with the grabbing of city lands by making forged land documents and were later taken to Mumbai where a local court remanded them to Enforcement Directorate custody till April 6.

The ED had demanded eight-day custody of both the accused from the court.

"The accused were interrogated for six days and during the interrogation, the laptops, and mobile phones of the accused were confiscated. The data present in it is being investigated. Also, some documentary evidence is being examined," the ED told the court.

The probe agency further said that during the investigation, the names of two persons who were made fake power of attorney have come to the fore. "They have been summoned for investigation on April 8. Tehsildar has also been called for questioning in this case and he has been called for questioning on April 11," the ED added.

While opposing the demand of ED for further custody, the lawyers said, "everything was interrogated in the six days. Everything was confiscated and was taken into possession. Why do you need custody now?" However, the ED has also called for bank statements from both of them since 2001, which will come by Monday and that's why custody is needed.

Satish Uke is known to have filled several petitions against several Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, including then chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

In one of his applications, he had sought criminal proceedings against Fadnavis for the "non-disclosure" of criminal cases in his election affidavit.