Parth Pawar and his many controversies- from visiting dreaded Pune gangster to CBI enquiry for Sushant Singh Rajput

A video of Parth with Gajanan alias Gaja Marne and his wife Jayshree had gone viral at the time. Parth visited the Marne couple along with a group of workers from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), including its then Pune unit chief Deepak Mankar and former mayor Dattatraya Dhankawade. A photograph of Marne felicitating Parth by giving him flowers was the talk of the town.

Facing heat over this issue, Ajit Pawar had then told media persons that Parth’s meeting with Marne was a “very wrong thing”.

According to the police, Marne is an active gangster to this day. His wife, Jayshree, a former corporator, had won a seat in the 2012 civic elections on a Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) ticket.

As per police records, Marne has close to 30 serious criminal cases registered against him. He had had hit the headlines in February 2021 when a rally comprising dozens of luxury cars was taken out in his support on the Mumbai Expressway after he was released from Taloja prison, following his acquittal in a case pertaining to the murder of a rival gang member.

In the last two weeks, the Pune City police arrested Sunil Bansode, 42, and Rupesh Marne, 41, both top members of the Gaja Marne gang.

Parth Pawar: Political debut and controversies

Parth Pawar made his political debut by unsuccessfully contesting the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as the candidate of the undivided NCP from the Maval constituency near Pune. His grandfather and Maharashtra’s top politician Sharad Pawar had initially planned to contest the polls himself from Maval, but had to back out to accommodate Parth’s entry. But Parth was defeated by a margin of over 2 lakh votes by the undivided Shiv Sena’s Shrirang Barne.

In September 2020, Parth sparked a political controversy with his social media post supporting the Ram Temple inauguration in Ayodhya, saying “We need to be gracious in this cultural victory.” Sharad Pawar had dismissed his remarks as “immature”.

In July same year, he had upset the then Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government by asking for a CBI probe into the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput.

Land scam cases

In the latest controversy, two cases of land scam have been registered against Digvijay Amarsinh Patil, director of Amadea Enterprises LLP, in which Parth Pawar is a partner. Interestingly, Parth has not been named as an accused in either case.

The first FIR was lodged at Bavdhan police station in Pimpri Chinchwad against Digvijay Patil, Sheetal Tejwani, and Ravindra Taru (now-suspended sub-registrar) on Thursday, for fraudulent purchase of 40 acres of land in the prime Koregaon Park area of Pune city, with a suspicious waiver of stamp duty worth Rs 5.89 crore. On Friday, Ajit Pawar said the agreement pertaining to this land deal stood cancelled.

Meanwhile, on Friday, another FIR was lodged at Khadak police station in Pune city, against Digvijay Patil, Tejwani, Pune city tehsildar Suryakant Yewale (now suspended) and others, in connection with an alleged scam involving government land in Pune’s Bopodi.

It is alleged in the FIR that between February 12, 2024, and July 1, 2025, Yewale, while performing his duties as tehsildar at the Mamledar Kacheri in Shukrawar Peth, misused his powers and conspired with other accused to issue an illegal order that they have ownership of around 13 acres of land in Bopodi, belonging to the government’s agriculture department.