Mumbai: Senior NCP leader and five-time MLA from Kolhapur region Hasan Mushrif has claimed protection from arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case against him contending that the case is an attempt to malign his clean reputation and is a motivated political conspiracy.
He alleged that the case was lodged at the behest of a BJP leader’s political campaign against him who has openly claimed that he would get Mushrif arrested and put behind bars. Pointing out that this BJP leader has been predicting every step of the investigating agency even before it could happen and said if this continues, the people at large would lose faith in the investigating agency and the investigation would lose its sanctity.
Mushrif: Entire case “politically motivated”
Calling the entire case “politically motivated”, he said he is the victim of political vendetta. The plea pointed out that the HC as well as the spl PMLA courts have questioned the intent of the ED behind arresting political leaders without there being any legal ground.
Mushrif said it is also a matter of record that many political leaders have come on record to say that the ED and the threat of arrest are used for meeting political agendas. He called his is a “classic example” as to how the situation is manipulated in order to harass political leaders. He said the whole exercise is to “damage his political career” and called the probe a “witch hunt”. He said he has a tremendous following in Kolhapur region and if not by the manipulation of law and misuse of powers, it is next to impossible to beat him in a fair and properly conducted election. His plea further said it is common knowledge that once arrested in a PMLA matter, it is very difficult to get bail and even if the exercise is undertaken to show that the arrest was illegal and unwarranted, one has to spend months behind bars. The arrest is a powerful tool to get the man in agreement to what one wants, it added.
