The Enforcement Directorate’s arrest of yet another critic of the BJP in Maharashtra has attracted condemnation from leaders of the Maha Vikas Aghadi. ED arrested lawyer Satish Uke in a money laundering case on Thursday evening after searching his and his brother Pradeep Uke’s Nagpur home early morning, bringing them to Mumbai and questioning them for over eight hours.

An ED insider claimed that Uke was being probed in a ‘land grab case’. “The property under probe in Nagpur has been grabbed by Uke and his family members. Since Uke refused to cooperate, he has been placed under arrest,” the ED insider, who did not wish to be named, alleged.

Satish Uke was in the news for filing a criminal writ petition against BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis for not disclosing cases against him while filing his election affidavit. Uke in his court petition prayed for Fadnavis’ disqualification as MLA for non-disclosure of criminal cases against him. Uke had also filed a petition to probe the death of Justice BH Loya, who died in 2014 while presiding over hearing of the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case. Uke is also PCC president Nana Patole’s lawyer in the ₹100 crore defamation case Patole filed against former intelligence officer Rashmi Shukla for illegal phone tapping.

Uke’s family members alleged that the searches were carried out at the ‘behest of Fadnavis’ and was meant to find details of his prospective cases against Fadnavis. The Congress sought the Supreme Court or Bombay High Court’s intervention. “BJP is practising autocracy and trying to end democracy. Therefore, through the media, I appeal to the chief justices of the Bombay high court and Supreme Court to save democracy by taking suo moto action against this raid and save democracy,” Patole said.

He asked why ED had confiscated phones and files related to Uke. “He is a lawyer. There would be files in his home. What else would he have? Why were they confiscated,” Patole asked. Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut reiterated that ED was a tool in the hands of the BJP. “I would not be surprised if ED now raids Patole in connection with the case.” NCP’s Chhagan Bhujbal asked for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah’s intervention as ED had gone ‘berserk’.