The I-T Department earlier linked such properties to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and his family, which has cleared more than ₹1,000 crore properties. The government took over the properties in 2021 under Benami charges and after a trial by the Prevention of Benami Property Transactions Appellate Tribunal, which turned down the accusations. These reports also revealed that the tribunal found that there is no truth about Pawar and his family owning benami properties.
A senior leader of the Nationalist Congress Party– Ajit Pawar, was also investigated by the I-T Department and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) many times. However, the most controversial issue involved in the case was his involvement in the Jarandeshwar Sugar Mill case. The mill was in a questionable connection with the MSCB scam and money laundering allegations and, therefore, was attached in the past by the ED. But now, the I-T Appellate Tribunal has cleared Pawar’s and the company’s names by saying that there is no direct link between the two of them and the fund transfer for the purchase of the sugar mill.
The conflict of interest started when an MSCB approved the auctioning of Jarandeshwar Sahakari Sugar Karkhana (SSK) to a Mumbai-based company, after which the firm leased it to a company eyed to be attached to the Pawar family. However, Ajit Pawar had no direct link with the mill’s purchase or the funds earning complaints of benami ownership, which the tribunal couldn’t prove.
Coming down heavily on the verdict, Ajit Pawar said that one must not take any allegations without going into the details. “When did I join the BJP? It has been around 1.5 years. People do not always have to believe accusations without questioning them. Everyone has the right of appeal,” he insisted.
Ajit Pawar has recently become Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister under the BJP rule and is strengthening his political career.
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