Khadse was eyeing Rs 65cr payout in land deal: Builder

Pune: Three sets of documents — the sale deed, a report by the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) on the compensation offered to the owner (a copy is with TOI) and the police complaint filed by construction firm owner Hemant Gawande — indicate that Maharashtra revenue minister Eknath Khadse's family was hoping to rake in a minimum compensation of Rs 65 crore for the land in Bhosari or was looking for alternative land elsewhere.The corporation, which acquired the land in 1971, finalised a compensation of Rs 83 lakh to the owner, Abbas Rasulbhai Ukani, on April 4 based on the MIDC Act, 1961. It submitted a report to the state government, stating that the owner's demand for compensation as per the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, cannot be accepted. In its report, the MIDC's regional office in Pune, states, "It is requested that the higher authorities must take a call if compensation must be paid as per the market rate or should be given a piece of land elsewhere as compensation."Soon after Ukani's demand was rejected and about 25 days after the MIDC had submitted its report, Khadse's wife and son-in-law bought the land from the owner paying Rs 3.75 crore. The minimum market valuation of this piece of land is Rs 31.01 crore as per Gawande's police complaint. The minimum official compensation, as per the 2013 Act, of this particular piece is pegged at Rs 65 crore."It is clear that Khadse purchased the land in the name of family members and was planning to seek compensation more than two times the current market rate of the said property," stated Gawande's police complaint.Khadse's office claimed that all transactions were within the legal framework.