Activist Anjali Damania to move court to reopen Ajit Pawar’s multiple alleged scams

The social activist remarked that she would expose the fraud in a press conference on Wednesday, and added that she wanted to depose before the Kharge committee set up to probe the scam as a common person and tell them what steps should be taken in the investigation

MUMBAI: Social activist Anjali Damania has decided to move court for an investigation into the multiple scams that NCP chief Ajit Pawar has been accused of over the years, the latest being the Mundhwa land scam case in which the deputy CM and his son Parth are allegedly involved. The previous cases include the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank scam, the Jarandeshwar sugar mill scam and the irrigation scam.

Anjali Damania

Amedia LLP, owned by Parth Pawar, recently acquired the plot, the market value of which is reportedly ₹1,800 crore, for a mere ₹300 crore and paid only ₹500 as stamp duty. The land, known as Mahar Watan land, was once gifted by the British to the “low-caste” Mahar community in lieu of services rendered. It is now owned by the government, which had leased it out to the Botanical Survey of India.

Some of the original holders of the land were in Mumbai, and Damania took them to meet revenue minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Tuesday afternoon. The state has already appointed a committee under additional chief secretary (revenue) Vikas Kharge to probe the matter. Damania also handed over papers given by the original land holders, the Gaikwad family of Pune, to Bawankule . “I have given him the sanad (charter) of 1932, when the land was given to the Gaikwad family, and papers related to the refusal of compensation by the family,” she said. “We also handed over the land extract papers.”

Damania said that the government decision to cancel the deal was incorrect, and only a civil court could decide on the matter. The social activist remarked that she would expose the fraud in a press conference on Wednesday, and added that she wanted to depose before the Kharge committee set up to probe the scam as a common person and tell them what steps should be taken in the investigation.

Damania said that Ajit Pawar had been involved in several swindles like the irrigation scam, the Jarandeshwar sugar mill scam and the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank scam but was helped by “his friend Devendra Fadnavis” to hush things up. “The FIR does not contain Parth Pawar’s name since he is Ajit Pawar’s son,” she said. “The offence was filed only against Parth’s partner, Digvijay Patil, who is merely a pawn.”

The social activist demanded that Ajit resign and give up the guardian ministership of Pune. “He claims that nothing was proved against him in all the scams of the last 15 to 16 years, but the fact is that they were shut down,” she said. “I will demand that all the cases be reopened. He was saved in the irrigation scam by Fadnavis, but now no one can save him.”

NCP spokesperson Suraj Chavan defended his boss by saying, “People must not make allegations for publicity. Pawar saheb has decided to face the inquiry and things will be clear in a month.”