EOW opposes ED claims of Ajit Pawar & wife's role in Rs 25,000 crore MSCB scam

MUMBAI: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police, in its reply to the court, objected to the Enforcement Directorate (ED)'s claim that the Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank (MSCB) office bearers, including NCP leader and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, had committed cheating while auctioning the sick sugar mills at throwaway prices to their kin.
Submitting that the ED had no right to file an intervention plea despite an earlier one being rejected by the court, the EOW filed its reply against the application which opposed the closure report by EOW in the Rs 25,000-crore MSCB scam. The EOW said even after further investigations were conducted, it was found that no cognizable offense had been committed. Hence, the closure report was submitted.
The development comes days after an article in the RSS organ 'Organiser' attributed BJP's poor performance in LS polls in state to its alliance with Ajit Pawar, and amid reports of state BJP and Shiv Sena functionaries urging their netas to 'remove NCP from the Mahayuti'.
The Rs 25,000 crore MSCB scam case highlights the alleged irregularities in auctioning of sick sugar mills by MSCB, which was reportedly controlled by senior politicians who allegedly benefited from auctioning of these mills to their kin. The ED had alleged cheating, misconduct, and money laundering in the auctioning of the four sick mills and linked the suspicious transactions with Ajit Pawar, his wife Sunetra Pawar, Shiv Sena's Arjun Khotkar, and companies of NCP (SP) leaders Rohit Pawar and Prajakt Tanpure.
The ED informed the court that it had shared its findings with the EOW and stated that it is an affected party as their money laundering case is based on the EOW's FIR in the scam that was registered on Bombay High Court directions. In response, EOW submitted its reply in the court recently stating that the court had earlier rejected the ED's similar intervention application.
The ED's intervention application provided detailed links between the politicians and four auctioned mills.
In the case of Jarandeshwar Sugar Co-operative Mill, the ED stated that the mill was sold by MSCB for Rs 65.75 crore to Guru Commodity Pvt Ltd in 2010. Immediately, Guru Commodity gave the mill to a newly incorporated private company with the same name, Jarandeshwar Sugar Mills Ltd, on lease for an annual charge of only Rs 12 lakh. "The director of Jarandeshwar Sugar Mills Ltd, Rajendra Ghadge, is the maternal uncle of Ajit Pawar, who was then a bank director. The funds utilised for the purchase of the mill in the auction were mainly sourced from Jarandeshwar Sugar Mills, which in turn received Rs 20 crore from Jay Agrotech Pvt Ltd., a company in which Sunetra Pawar, wife of Ajit Pawar, is a director," said the ED in its application.
The ED also linked Rohit Pawar's company, Baramati Agro, that purchased Kannad Sugar Co-Operative Mill through auction. The ED said Hitech Engineering Corporation India was one of the co-bidders which received Rs 5 crore from Baramati Agro, whose promoters are Rohit Pawar and his father, just before the auction. This amount was used by Hitech Engineering Corporation India Ltd to pay the EMD required to participate in the auction.
In the case of Ram Ganesh Gadakari SSK, ED said the defunct sugar mill and its 110 acres of land were sold to Prasad Sugars & Allied Agro Products Ltd, a firm linked to Prajakt Prasad Tanpure, for only Rs 12.95 crore, much below the reserve price, despite receiving written objections from the previous borrower. ED said that effectively only one bidder participated in the auction, and the other, Nayna Chemicals, did not have enough funds to deposit the required amount or purchase the mill. Moreover, the proprietor of Nayna Chemicals was also a director in Prasad Sugars & Allied Agro Products Ltd at the time of the auction.
Similarly, when the MSCB sold Jalna Sugar Co-Operative Mill to Tapadia Construction, ED found that only two participated in the auction. Ajeet Seeds, owned by Padmakar Mulay and Sameer Mulay, quoted below the reserve price, while Tapadia Constructions quoted above and won the auction. Tapadia Constructions did not operate the mill and sold it along with 235 acres of land to Arjun Sugar Industries after a few months. "ED concluded it was a pre-planned arrangement to help Tapadia Constructions win auction, and the company was only a proxy that made the purchase based on money routed from Arjun Sugar Industries, incorporated by Sameer Padmakar Mulay and ex-minister and Shiv Sena leader Arjunrao Khotkar.