Land deal linked Parth Pawar’s firm: Police search Sheetal Tejwani’s Koregaon Park residence, maternal home in Pimpri

Police had told the court on Thursday that they are investigating whether Tejwani accepted Rs 300 crore in the alleged fraudulent land deal and in what way. Police also submitted in the court they want to seize her digital devices like laptop and other documents for investigation. Accordingly, a search was conducted at Tejwani’s residence and maternal home, a police officer said.

Investigation into the FIR registered at Khadak police station in this case was later transferred to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Pune city police crime branch. The FIR pertains to alleged irregularities involving two separate land parcels in Bopodi and Mundhwa, linked by a common factor: suspended tehsildar Suryakant Yewale, who is accused of issuing wrongful orders in both cases.

The land parcel in Mundhwa, which was earlier a Mahar Watan — a hereditary land grant — had been in possession of the government and was leased to the Botanical Survey of India when its sale deed was executed in May this year with Amadea Enterprises LLP, in which Digvijay Patil and Parth Pawar are partners.

It is alleged that the sale deed was executed without the mandatory approval of the state government, at a significantly lower price and also with a waiver of stamp duty.

Police have alleged that Tejwani, as power of attorney holder for 272 watandars, sold the 40 acre of Mundhwa land in government possession to Amadea Enterprises LLP. Police told the court that, “In spite of the land being in the possession of the government, Tejwani has tried to show that it was still a Mahar watan and had then executed the sale of the land. Probe suggests that no money transaction was done with the 272 original watandars, in the land deal….”