Mumbai, March 28 (IANS): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday issued summons to Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Amol G. Kirtikar, who has been named the party’s candidate for the Mumbai North West Lok Sabha seat.

The ED has summoned Kirtikar as part of its probe into the alleged money-laundering case arising out of the ‘khichdi scam’ first probed by the Mumbai Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW).

SS (UBT) MP and chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut attacked the BJP over the development, terming it as a ‘pressure tactic’ applied on the party candidate.

"The ED summons followed soon after Amol Kirtikar was declared as the SS (UBT) candidate from Mumbai North West. These are simply the BJP’s attempts to silence its political opponents by deploying such pressure tactics,” Raut said.

The alleged ‘khichdi scam’ pertains to the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) awarding contracts to serve this humble but nutritious fare to thousands of migrants stranded during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the erstwhile Maha Vikas Aghadi regime headed by Uddhav Thackeray was in power.

After the MVA government was toppled, the EOW registered an FIR in September 2023 against several SS (UBT) leaders, including Raut’s close aide Sujit Patkar, Sunil Kadam, Rajeev Salunkhe from a catering company, some BMC employees, and others over the alleged scam of Rs 6.37 crore.

During probe, Kirtikar’s name also cropped up and he was quizzed by the EOW for over six hours in September last year. After the money-laundering angle emerged in the case, the ED stepped into the picture in October 2023.

The ED has filed its own complaint, and arrested Suraj Chavan, a close associate of SS (UBT) leader Aditya Thackeray, besides slapping attachment orders on his properties worth Rs 88 lakh.

Former BJP MP Kirit Somaiya, who highlighted the scam, claimed that “Amol Kirtikar had received Rs 1.65 crore out of the ‘khichdi scam’, for which he would be held accountable”.

Kirtikar (52) is the son of a veteran Shiv Sena leader Gajanan Kirtikar, the sitting MP from Mumbai North West, who allied with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde after the party split in June 2022.

While the prestigious seat is being coveted by the ruling Shiv Sena and the BJP, SS (UBT)’s decision to field Kirtikar from the seat drew huge flak from the MVA partners Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (SP) on Wednesday.