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ED Arrests Ex-Vasai-Virar Commissioner and Three Others in Money-Laundering Probe

Held under the PMLA, they face questioning to expose a per-square-foot bribe network used to launder proceeds through shell entities.

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Former VVCMC commissioner and IAS officer Anil Pawar

Overview

  • The ED arrested former VVCMC commissioner Anil Pawar, suspended deputy town planner Y S Reddy and builders Sitaram and Arun Gupta on August 13 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
  • They are accused of profiting from the illegal construction and sale of 41 unauthorised buildings on roughly 60 acres reserved for a sewage treatment plant and dumping ground in Vasai-Virar.
  • Investigators allege a fixed bribe regime of Rs 20–25 per sq ft for the commissioner and Rs 10 per sq ft for the deputy planner, with seized documents and device forensics revealing coded payment instructions.
  • Raids since May across Vasai-Virar, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad and Nashik have yielded nearly Rs 9 crore in cash, over Rs 23 crore in jewellery and voluminous property records.
  • A special PMLA court remanded all four to ED custody until August 20 as teams work to trace other beneficiaries, freeze assets and map shell entities linked to the syndicate.