Sitting amid the blackened remains of his home, 32-year-old Nikesh Gawali carefully broke open a half-melted plastic box with a screwdriver. His hands shook slightly, not out of fear, but out of hope. “I’m trying to find my daughter Aarti’s gold earrings,” he said quietly, still focused on the box. “She’s just five. I got them made recently after months of labour work.” The plastic box, warped and blackened by heat, was one of the few things left from his two-room house on the outskirts of Dhamangaon village . All around him lay ash, broken tin sheets and charred wooden beams. The walls had cracked under the heat and the front room’s tin roof had caved in completely. What remained was a blackened debris all around - almost nothing to suggest a home once stood there. Nikesh earns his living as an agricultural labourer, like many in the village. Work is uncertain and depends on the season. Those earrings weren’t just jewellery - they were a small dream, a reward for his hard work,...
ED suspects money laundering in Wasankar case By Dheeraj Fartode The multicrore Wasankar scam is on the radar of Enforcement Directorate (ED) as officials of ED are suspecting a money laundering angle in this complex case involving huge cash transactions and benami investments. There was turnover of hundreds of crore and it was widely believed that many prominent political leaders and businessmen received generous amounts from Wasankar. However, the Economic Offences Wing (EoW) is yet to trace the entire mysterious ‘money trail’ as Wasankar had circulated the money through 145 bank accounts. “Wasankar could be booked under stringent Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) so that ED can investigate the case with full powers,” said an ED official. The official told The Hitavada that ED officials had taken custody documents related to Wasankar scam. The officials are studying the documents and searching money laundering point in the case. Once the ED starts ...