Probe agency raids Sharad Pawar’s grand nephew Rohit Pawar’s firm over 2012 purchase of sick sugar company
On Friday, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided the Baramati Agro premises linked with Nationalist Congress Party (SP) MLA Rohit R Pawar, the grand-nephew of party supremo Sharad Pawar, in a money laundering case.
Besides the Baramati premises, teams of ED sleuths swooped on five other locations in the money-laundering case pertaining to the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) scam.
It was alleged that the cooperative factory at Kannad was sold to Baramati Agro Pvt Ltd. for Rs.50 crore and the working capital was availed from different accounts of various banks for the money utilized for the purchase deal.
Besides Baramati Ago, other companies like Hitech Engineering Corporation India Ltd and Samruddhi Sugars Pvt. Ltd also participated in the Kannad factory auction.
However, the Rs.5 crore earnest money paid by Hitech Engineering Corporation India Ltd was allegedly availed from Baramati Agro, controlled by Rohit Pawar and his father Rajendra Pawar.
After the Mumbai Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) filed its FIR in the MSCB scam, the ED’s money laundering case was lodged and all the firms/ individuals that took part in the sugar mill’s auction are now under the ED radar.
Earlier, the EOW filed its closure report stating that no fraud was committed in the auctions in the MSCB imbroglio, but in November 2022, it sought the court’s permission to probe the companies linked with Rohit Pawar in the scam, contending that these entities had acquired the sick sugar mill vide auctions with suspicious transactions.
The NCP-SP has thrown its full weight behind Rohit Pawar with several leaders offering support.
[With Inputs from IANS]
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