Mohol was responding to the allegations made by farmer leader Raju Shetti and Shiv Sena leader Ravindra Dhangekar. (Image: @mohol_murlidhar)
Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol on Sunday refuted allegations that he was involved in the sale of a 3.5 acre plot of land belonging to a Jain trust in Pune.
Although the Lok Sabha MP from Pune said that when the sale transaction was finalised, he was not associated with the builder who purchased the property, farm leader Raju Shetti and Shiv Sena’s Ravindra Dhangekar said they were certain that Mohol had a big role to play in the ‘multi-crore scam.’
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A controversy erupted after trustees of the Seth Hirachand Nemachand Samarak Trust recently negotiated a land deal concerning a 3.5-acre plot in the upmarket Model Colony area of Pune, that includes a Jain boarding hostel and the Shri Bhagwan Mahavir Digambar Jain Temple, to Gokhale Constructions. While the Jain community has objected to the trustees’ decision and demanded the cancellation of the land deal, trustees have reportedly justified the sale, citing financial constraints and the need for long-term sustainability.
Speaking to reporters in Pune on Sunday, Union Minister Mohol said, “I was in no way involved with the purchase of the Jain property. All the transactions were carried out by the Gokhale builders, with whom I had parted ways 11 months ago”
Mohol was responding to the allegations made by farmer leader Raju Shetti and Shiv Sena leader Ravindra Dhangekar who alleged that the sale transaction was done at the behest of the Lok Sabha MP.
Mohol said he had two limited liability partnership (LLP) firms with Gokhale builders. ”In 2024, I withdrew my name from the partnership. I resigned on November 25, 2024. At that time, there was not a single rupee transaction between us.”
”I withdrew my name from the partnership a good 11 months before the sale deed for the property was finalised by the builder and the trust. And therefore, the allegations against me are baseless. It is disheartening to see such false allegations being made against me,’” said the Union Minister.
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Stating that he had always conducted his business with transparency, Mohol said, ”I am sharing the full report of my withdrawal from the partnership with the Gokhale builders. I urge everyone to go through the documents before making false allegations. I am engaged in agriculture and construction work. This I had clearly mentioned in my affidavit filed during the Lok Sabha elections. I have always ensured transparency in my business,” he said.
Mohol said that if Raju Shetti had spoken to him, he would have told him about the real situation. Mohol said Dhangekar was a frustrated man and therefore would not want to comment about his allegations.
Meanwhile, speaking to The Indian Express on Sunday, farm leader Shetti debunked Mohol’s contention that he resigned as partner of Gokhale Builders 11 months ago. “Mohol did not resign on his own. In fact, he had to resign after becoming the Minister. He cannot hold an office of profit upon becoming a Union Minister.”
Though Mohol resigned from the partnership, Shetti said the MP remained associated with the builder and did whatever he can to ensure that the deal is struck. “His resignation did not mean his relation with the builders ended. When there are so many banks and credit societies in Pune, how come the builders got a Rs 50 crore loan from a credit society located in faraway Karnataka in just three days? This is because the bank chairman is a BJP man and his wife is a former BJP minister,” said the farm leader adding that what’s even more shocking is that the sale deed and the mortgage deed happened the same day, a process that usually takes 15 days.
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Shetti said the trust had applied to the Deputy Charity Commissioner’s office in February for the sale of the plot. “On February 13, the trust made the proposal for sale of the land and the permission was given in the first week of April. The trust claimed that it was running a loss. However, the balancesheet showed the trust had Rs 8 crore balance, which was transferred in the name of a big firm,” he said.
Shetti alleged that though the property has been sold for Rs 230 crore, the builders are looking to earn revenue worth Rs 3000 crore.
Stating that Mohol’s press conference on Sunday was a ‘desperate attempt to prove his innocence’, Shiv Sena leader Dhangekar said, “The sale registeration required signature of all six trustees of the trust. However, only four trustees have put their signature.”
Dhangekar alleged that when the tender of the property for sale was published, three bids were received. “All the three bids are by firms associated with Mohol.”
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The controversial 3.5-acre property in the upmarket Model Colony area of Pune houses a Jain boarding hostel and mess for outstation students, Shri Bhagwan Mahavir Digambar Jain Temple, 240 fully grown trees, servant quarters and a hall.
The Seth Hirachand Nemachand Samarak Trust purchased this land in 1958, and from then onwards, it has been looking after the property. ‘
“The land houses a boys hostel from 1958. It has a capacity of 235 students,” said Congress youth leader Akshay Jain, who first approached the deputy charity commissioner, Pune, to cancel the sale proposal on May 14 this year.
The trust sold the property to Gokhale builders on October 8. ”This means, the sale deed happened on October 8, 2025, a day before the Bombay High Court took up the matter opposing the sale of property for hearing,” said Jain.
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Jain said they have already approached the Bombay high court. ”The hostel has supported education for thousands of students till date. The sale of this land will trample upon the orignal education objectives of the institution…The temple is a focal point of faith, education and social life for thousands of Jains. We will fight the matter in the high court
Earlier this week, scores of members of the Jain community, belonging to all sects, took out a morcha to the Pune District Collector, demanding that the sale transaction of the property be scrapped.
Meanwhile, trust chairman Chakore L Doshi has defended the proposed sale stating that the trust had followed all legal procedures, including filing applications with the Charity Commissioner, and accused “pressure groups and NGOs” of creating unnecessary controversy to mislead the Jain community.
Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.
Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees.
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