Court adds names of Rohit Pawar as accused in MSC Bank fraud case

MUMBAI: A special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court on Friday added the names of Nationalist Congress Party (SP) leader Rohit Pawar, his firm Baramati Agro Limited and Rajendra Ingawale as accused in the money laundering case pertaining to the auction and sale of Kannad Sahakari Sugar Karkhana (SSK) by the Maharashtra State Cooperative (MSC) Bank

MUMBAI: A special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court on Friday added the names of Nationalist Congress Party (SP) leader Rohit Pawar, his firm Baramati Agro Limited and Rajendra Ingawale as accused in the money laundering case pertaining to the auction and sale of Kannad Sahakari Sugar Karkhana (SSK) by the Maharashtra State Cooperative (MSC) Bank. All the three accused were recently named in the supplementary charge sheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Mumbai: NCP-SP MLA Rohit Pawar during the Monsoon session of Maharashtra Assembly, at Vidhan Bhawan, in Mumbai, Tuesday, July 8, 2025. (PTI Photo)(PTI07_08_2025_000386A) (PTI)

Special judge SR Navander on Friday issued process against the three accused, and also issued summons to Pawar and Ingawale, asking them to remain present before the court on August 21. The judge further directed the ED to serve the summons to the newly added accused persons.

The ED’s money laundering investigation was based on an FIR registered with the MRA Marg police on August 26, 2019, and investigated by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police, on orders passed by the Bombay High Court on a public interest litigation (PIL).

The PIL was filed by an activist, Surinder Mohan Arora, alleging that politicians on the board of MSC Bank had sold mortgaged cooperative sugar mills and cotton mills to relatives and friends at throwaway prices.

While investigating the case, the ED found illegalities in the auction of Kannad SSK, located in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. The ED, in its supplementary charge sheet, stated that MSC Bank had decided to auction Kannad SSK in January 2012, fixing its reserve price at ₹51.06 crore.

Three firms – Baramati Agro Ltd, Pune, Samrudhi Sugar Ltd, Aurangabad, and Hi-Tech Engineering Corporation, Pune – had bid for Kannad SSK. Samrudhi Sugar Ltd, the highest bidder, had raised objections alleging tampering of sealed tender forms, but those were not addressed and eventually its bid was rejected on technical grounds.

The ED’s probe revealed that Hi-Tech Engineering Corporation was a shadow company or a proxy entity of Baramati Agro Ltd. Fabricated correspondence between these two companies surfaced, to create an illusion of independence, the court noted. It added that the auction was manipulated to disqualify the higher bidder, ultimately favouring Baramati Agro Ltd.

The court said that Baramati Agro Ltd and Hi-Tech Engineering Corporation had colluded to acquire the factory at a suppressed price. “Accused Rohit Pawar, director of Baramati Agro Ltd, and accused Rajendra Ingawale, director of Hi-Tech Engineering Corporation, are prima facie found to have knowingly participated in this fraudulent acquisition,” it added.