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Income Tax department attaches properties linked to Ajit Pawar across 3 states
According to officials in the investigation wing of Maharashtra’s Income Tax department, the value of the properties, allegedly linked to Ajit Pawar, spread over the three states is ₹1,000 crore.
The Income Tax (I-T) department has provisionally attached properties allegedly linked to Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar in Maharashtra, Delhi and Goa, officials aware of the matter said on Tuesday.
According to officials in the investigation wing of Maharashtra’s I-T department, the value of the properties spread over the three states is ₹1,000 crore.
The action was taken after the I-T department allegedly discovered details of unaccounted income of about ₹184 crore during searches carried out for five days in the first week of October at 70 premises of two Mumbai-based real estate groups, individuals, and entities allegedly linked to Pawar and his family in Mumbai, Pune, Baramati, Goa, and Jaipur last month.
The department in a statement on October 15 said that incriminating documents mentioning the unaccounted income were found during the raids.
Pawar’s lawyer Prashant Patil, however, said no property related to the deputy chief minister has been attached by the I-T department and he has also not received any notice. He termed reports of attachment of Pawar’s properties as baseless and misleading. Pawar has also denied the reports.
“None of his properties were attached by the I-T department nor he has received any notice in this regard. The I-T department has sought clarification related to some issues. An appropriate response will be given on that particular letter. Appropriate action will also be taken through administrative and legal means… News coming in this regard in the media are baseless and misleading. The media should verify the facts before reporting and do not fall prey to any propaganda,”a statement issued by Patil said.
The department is yet to issue any statement on the attachment but officials cited above said the action was taken under the Prohibition of the Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988. The attached assets include an office building at a prime location in Mumbai, a flat in an upscale Delhi locality, a resort in Goa, agricultural land, and a sugar mill in Maharashtra, the officials said.
Funds obtained in a “dubious manner” were allegedly utilised for the acquisition of these properties, they added.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former MP Kirit Somaiya alleged that Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar and his family owned the properties attached. “The properties include Jarandeshwar sugar factory worth ₹600 crore, an office owned by Parth Ajit Pawar in South Mumbai worth ₹25 crore, a flat in south Delhi worth ₹20 crore, and a resort named NIlaya in Goa worth ₹250 crore. The properties... are owned by Ajit Pawar, his wife Sunetra, his mother, his son, sisters, and Mohan Patil, son-in-law.”
HT could not independently verify the claim.
After the searches last month, the I-T department claimed through a statement that there was a suspicious flow of funds allegedly involving an “influential family from Maharashtra,” without naming Pawar or his family. However, department officials who asked not to be named said the family in question was that of Ajit Pawar.
The I-T department then carried out searches in the first week of October at the residences of Pawar’s three sisters and son, Parth, who is directly/indirectly linked to properties under tax department’s scanner.
Pawar, after the searches, described the agency’s action “harassment”, and alleged government departments were being misused against his family for political reasons.
The IT- department, however, has maintained that the searches led to the identification of transactions by business groups with a web of companies that, prima facie, appear to be suspicious.
“A preliminary analysis of the flow of funds indicates that there has been an introduction of unaccounted funds in the group by way of various dubious methods like the introduction of bogus share premium, suspicious unsecured loans, receipt of unsubstantiated advance for certain services, collusive arbitration deals out of non-existent disputes, etc,” the agency said in its statement on October 15.
It added the value of assets allegedly acquired through funds obtained in a “dubious manner” was about ₹170 crore. The department claimed to have seized unaccounted cash of ₹2.13 crore and jewellery worth ₹4.32 crore during the five-day search operation.
Sharad Pawar reacted strongly to the searches, saying the action reeks of abuse of power. He linked it to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) reaction to his position on the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.
The NCP is part of the Shiv Sena-led government in Maharashtra, which has had frequent run-ins with the BJP-led central government over the alleged misuse of central agencies.
Ajit Pawar last month refuted allegations that he and his family bought the sugar factories for paltry prices. “There are no irregularities involved in the purchase of any sugar factories. The factories were auctioned following all norms,” he said.
