ED searches premises linked to Pawar kin’s company

Premises across Maharashtra, including offices of Baramati Agro and individuals and entities linked to the company, were being searched.

ED officers said that premises of Kannad Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana in Sambhajinagar, Baramati Agro in Pimpali in Baramati, Hitech Engineering Corporation and places belonging to Rajesh Ingavle and Sanjay Avan — both linked to Hitech Engineering — and premises of Samruddhi Sugar Mill were being searched.

The money laundering investigation into Pawar’s firm is related to allegations of diversion of cash and transfer of earnest payments to Hitech that bid, along with Baramati Agro, to purchase the ailing Kannad Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana.

ED sources said they are investigating allegations that Baramati Agro connived with Hitech to bid for Kannad SSK and manipulated the auction process.

The factory, it is alleged, was taken over by Baramati Agro for Rs 50 crore, an undervalued price and suspected to be the result of a manipulated auction under the MSCB.

Reached for comments by The Indian Express, Rohit Pawar, who is the CEO of Baramati Agro, said he was not in India and had posted his reaction on X. His handle on X retweeted condemnations by other NCP leaders who called the ED action politically motivated.

He also posted a photograph of gods and Maharashtra icons and wrote: “The land of Maharashtra has a long history of struggle… This is the face of a proud and progressive Maharashtra which preserved and developed Maharashtra Dharma for generations.”

The MSCB scandal case relates to loans given to sugar factories, allegedly without following procedure, by officials of the MSCB even after they turned into non-performing assets and their subsequent sale to kin of the accused much below the market value.

The probe in the case was initiated after a PIL was filed before the Bombay High Court flagging the alleged irregularities at the bank. An FIR was first registered by the Economic Offences Wing and the ED too filed a case of money laundering in 2019.

In April last year, the ED filed its first chargesheet in the case against Guru Commodity Services Pvt Ltd, Jarandeshwar Sugar Mills Pvt Ltd and chartered accountant Yogesh Bagrecha.

In August, the ED filed two supplementary chargesheets in connection with the MSCB case, naming another 11 as accused. These included MLA Prajakt Tanpure of the Sharad Pawar NCP faction, former NCP MLA Prasad Tanpure, former MLA Arjun Khotkar of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction, and former Congress minister Ranjeet Deshmukh.