The Bombay High Court has given relief to Pratap Sarnaik and family members and asked Enforcement Directorate not to take any coercive action till 28th July in the NSEL case, ANI reported.
Last month, Sarnaik had written a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray appealing to him to reconcile with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) "before it is too late".
Yesterday, talking about the case, Sarnaik said that he is not Vijay Malaya or Neerav Modi to run away though being probed by ED. Due to heart surgery and family issues I was keeping quiet, he added.
In the letter dated June 10, Sarnaik said even though the alliance with the BJP has broken, personal and harmonious relations between leaders of the 'yuti' (Shiv Sena-BJP) remain. "It is better to reconcile before it is too late," the MLA said in the letter.
Noting that municipal corporation polls are due soon in several cities, including Mumbai, Sarnaik in his letter said, "I believe fighting a war like Arjun, instead of sacrificing oneself like Abhimanyu or Karna. This is the reason that I have been fighting my legal battle for the last seven months alone without getting any help from our leaders or our government."
For the unversed, Sarnaik is under the Enforcement Directorate's scanner for alleged money laundering.
On November 24, the ED launched searches at ten properties of Pratap Sarnaik, Tops Group and its promoter Rahul Nanda and a few others in Mumbai and neighbouring Thane.
After the searches, the ED officials had picked up his son Vihang Sarnaik from his residence and questioned him.
The case relates to a complaint lodged by Ramesh Iyyer, a former employee of Tops Group.
Iyyer alleged that in 2014, under a contract with the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority for the supply of 350 to 500 security guards, the security firm provided only 70 per cent of the agreed number.
Some of the money paid by the MMRDA went to private accounts of the accused, he claimed.
The Shiv Sena had called the raids on the MLA's properties as "political vendetta".
Pratap Sarnaik, 56, represents the Ovala-Maijwada constituency of Thane in the Maharashtra Assembly and is also a spokesperson of his party.
(With inputs from agencies)
