Shilpa Shetty's husband Raj Kundra appears before ED for questioning in Iqbal Mirchi case

Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty's husband and businessman Raj Kundra on Wednesday joined the Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigation into alleged deals involving deceased gangster Iqbal Mirchi. 

Kundra was summoned by ED for his alleged business deals with Ranjit Bindra, said to be a close aide of Iqbal Mirchi. He was asked to appear before it for questioning on November 4 but Kundra decided to be early. 

He arrived at the ED office in Mumbai on Wednesday to join investigation in connection with the case. ED Joint Director Satyavrat Kumar has also arrived at the Mumbai office situated in Ballard Estate area. 

An alleged hawala operator identified as Rinku Deshpande and Humayun Merchant, a close aid of Mirchi, were earlier this month arrested by the ED. 

Former Union Minister Praful Patel is also being probed in the case. According to reports, he is being probed for controversial monetary transactions between his company Millennium Developer Private Ltd and Iqbal Mirchi's son Asif Memon in Worli land deal. 

The transaction value is said to be in crores of rupees.

The investigating agency had earlier questioned Praful Patel and confronted him with documents that were unearthed during the probe. The documents showed that Millenium Developers built a 15-story building in Mumbai and gave two floors to Mirchi's family members in 2006-07.

Iqbal Mirchi, an alleged Indian underworld figure, was a close aid of the fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim. He died of a heart attack in 2013 in London at age 63.