Speaking to the media, Minister for Minority Development and Auqaf Naseem Khan said that an inquiry has been instituted against Quadri. He added that around 60 percent of the over 80,000 acres of Waqf land in the state has been encroached.

"I have ordered Quadri to be transferred to his parent cadre following complaints of his transferring land at Kultabad near Aurangabad to one of his relatives and also for granting no objection certificates (NOCs) for several "illegal" sale of Waqf land," he said.

The minister further said that Additional Chief Secretary Ana Dani has been asked to appoint an officer to conduct an inquiry against Quadri, who had been the CEO of the State Waqf Board since 2008.

Quadri, meanwhile, denied that he has been transferred and dismissed all charges of wrongdoing against him. He also denied transfer of Waqf land to his relative but admitted that the NOC had been granted for the development of land.

Irregularities, illegal encroachment and Waqf land grabbing is nothing new in Maharashtra. A former Muslim minister of state for Auqaf is alleged to have grabbed the Waqf land in Nagpur, while a large plot of Waqf land was given to a former minister Dilip Deshmukh, brother of federal Minister for Heavy Industries Vilasrao Deshmukh, in Aurangabad.