After Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis ordered an inquiry into the alleged land scam involving his son Parth, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar came under tremendous pressure on Friday, as the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) rooted for his resignation and inclusion of his son’s name in the FIR registered in the case. On a day when the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Pune police took over the investigations from the Bavdhan Police Station, the MVA leaders and social activists mounted pressure on Ajit Pawar to put in his papers, and also made a strong case for including Parth Pawar’s name in the FIR registered by the police.
Shiv Sena (UBT)’s leader Sushma Andhar charged that the state Revenue department and the police were trying to “shield” Parth Pawar in the Mundhwa land scam case. “Despite the same document (No.9018/225) being used in the registration process, and the inquiry report specifically mentioning Parth Pawar’s signature on the District Industries Board’s resolution granting stamp duty exemption, why have the authorities avoided naming him in the FIR?” Sushma asked. The FIR — lodged by Pune’s Joint District Registrar Santosh Hingane — names nine persons including Pune City’s Tehsildar Suryakant Yeole, Dhananjay Patil and Sheetal Tejwani, as accused in the scam. However, the FIR does not mention Parth’s name.
Talking to media persons, Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar said: “An FIR has been registered. The EOW has taken over the investigations. “The documents and papers related to the transactions are being examined…based on that only we will chart the course of investigations only after that we would be able to comment more”. The FIR has been lodged under cheating and criminal breach of trust provisions of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, Sections 316(5), 318(2), and 3(5), along with Section 59 of the Maharashtra Stamp Act.
The alleged scam involves 40 acres of ‘Mahar Watan Land’, denoting hereditary landholding to Mahar (Scheduled Caste) community, in Pune’s upmarket Mundhwa area off the Koregaon Park in Pune. The land was sold for Rs 300 crore to Amadea Enterprises LLP, in which Parth and Digvijay Amarsinh Patil are partners. A stamp duty amounting to Rs 21 crore on the land deal was waived.
The market value of the property is said to be Rs 1,800 crore. On their part, activists Anjali Damania and Vijay Kumbhar questioned the police and state revenue department for not acting against Parth Pawar in the land scam. “After a weak FIR was filed in the Mundhwa land scam case, today every politician will be chanting the same line — ‘law will take its own course, no interference will be made,” Kumbhar said.
“FIR was registered but that too is a scam…Pawar Ajit Pawar’s name is not there and the company’s name is also not there. Why? Is there preparation to save from this too? Stop the politics. Conduct an investigation and give punishment. The committee that will be formed this time should not only have Government officials, but also representatives from the public. I am ready to make a representation in this regard,” Damania said.
It may be recalled that in 2019, the 35-year-old Parth had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Assembly polls from the Maval seat on a ticket given by the Sharaad Pawar-led undivided NCP. Much to the discomfort of Ajit Pawar, the scam has come to light in the run-up to the local body polls and in the midst of the deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar to launch his younger son Jay Pawar in electoral politics by making him contest the president’s post in Baramati Municipal Council.
On his part, Ajit Pawar has chosen to distance himself from the alleged scam by saying that he has nothing to do with the alleged irregularities in the land deal involving his son, Parth. Ajit Pawar is not new to controversies. As the deputy chief minister in the erstwhile Congress-NCP Democratic Front holding the Water Resources Department, he was allegedly involved in a Rs 70,000 crore irrigation scam. He had come under severe attack from the then-opposition BJP. Incidentally, the attack against Ajit Pawar was spearheaded by Devendra Fadnavis, who is now the chief minister.
As Water Resources Minister, Ajit Pawar had also served as Chairman of Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC), which had cleared irrigation projects in which alleged irregularities had allegedly taken place. It may be recalled that during the 2014 and 2019 Maharashtra Assembly polls, the BJP had made the irrigation scam a major poll issue to target the DF Government and NCP leaders including Ajit Pawar and his uncle and mentor Sharad Pawar.
In December 2019, the Maharashtra anti-corruption bureau (ACB) gave a clean chit to Ajit Pawar over the allegations in an irrigation scam case in an affidavit submitted in the court. A 16-page affidavit, dated November 27, 2019, was submitted at the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court by ACB superintendent Rashmi Nandedkar in which she has observed that there is no criminal liability on the part of the then Chairman of the Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC) in respect of the process of granting sanction. Ajit Pawar, as the Water Resources Minister, was the Ex-Officio Chairman of the VIDC at that time.
In 2023, ahead of the NCP split, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had alleged Congress and NCP were the most corrupt parties and spoke of the Rs 70,000 crore irrigation scam and also the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank scam. However, after Ajit Pawar joined the Devendra Fadnavis-led MahaYuti Government as the deputy chief minister, the irrigation scam has become a thing of the past.
