Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) froze bank balances, fixed deposits, and mutual funds totalling around Rs 44 crore and seized Rs 16.5 lakh in cash after conducting searches in Panvel and Dadar in the land grab case involving local BJP politician J M Mhatre of J M Mhatre Infrastructure and Saiyyed Mohammad Abdul Hamid Qadri.The accused allegedly grabbed the land that originally belonged to the Nizam through forgery and surrendered it for highway construction in exchange for hefty compensation. The ED investigation revealed the state govt acquired the land in 1975 under the Maharashtra Private Forests (Acquisition) Act. Later, the ownership in the 7/12 extract was altered to the forest department, state govt. — Vijay V Singh