Mumbai, July 1 (IANS) In a crackdown against politician-builder-official nexus, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday searched 16 premises, including offices of architects, in a case related to illegal construction of homes and offices on 60 acres of government land in Maharashtra’s Vasai-Virar region.

On Tuesday, one of the ED teams searched a premises in Padmaraj building in Vasai West.

The investigators arrived at the spot at 7 a.m. in two vehicles, said an area resident.

As part of the land scam, the accused duped home and office buyers by fabricating documents and carrying out construction on government and private land, and selling these illegal properties to them, said an ED official, adding that 41 such illegal buildings were pulled down by civic agencies in February this year.

The case pertains to “illegal construction of residential-cum-commercial buildings on government and private land” under jurisdiction of “Vasai Virar Municipal Corporation (VVMC)” since 2009, the ED official said.

It has been found that the key perpetrators of the large-scale scam in the jurisdiction of VVMC are Sitaram Gupta, Arun Gupta and others, including the civic agency’s Deputy Director of Town Planning, Y.S. Reddy.

In May, the ED had searched 13 different premises across Mumbai and Hyderabad, seizing cash and jewellery worth nearly Rs 32 crore in the case related to illegal construction of homes and offices on government land in Vasai-Virar city.

During searches at Reddy’s premises, Rs 8.6 crore and diamond-studded jewellery and bullion worth Rs 23.25 crore were seized, an official said.

Over a period of time, 41 illegal buildings were constructed on the land reserved for “Sewage Treatment Plant” and “Dumping Ground” as per the approved development plan of Vasai Virar city, he added.

“Even with prior knowledge that these buildings were unauthorised and would eventually be demolished, the developers misled the people by selling rooms in these buildings, thereby committing serious fraud,” the ED said in a statement.

The federal agency said the Bombay High Court had on July 8, 2024, ordered the demolition of all 41 buildings.

Thereafter, a Special Leave Petition was filed before the Supreme Court by the families residing in 41 illegal buildings, which was dismissed.

The demolition of all 41 buildings was completed by VVMC on February 20, 2025.

Maharashtra’s fifth largest city, Vasai-Virar, is an agglomeration of four previously governed municipal councils: Vasai (Bassein), Virar, Nallasopara and Navghar-Manikpur, as well as a few towns to the east and west of the urban area. It lies in the Konkan division.

–IANS

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