The Income Tax Department has provisionally attached properties worth Rs 1000 crore under the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988, belonging to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar. The central agency has issued a notice to Pawar, informing him about the same. The department has given 90 days to Ajit Pawar, the nephew of NCP patriarch Sharad Pawar to prove that these attached properties were not purchased with Benami (undisclosed and illegal) money.
#JustIn: The Income Tax department has provisionally attached four assets including a cooperative sugar factories liked to NCP leader Ajit Pawar under the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988.
— Economic Times (@EconomicTimes) November 2, 2021
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The four properties belonging to the NCP leader, that have been provisionally attached by the agency are a flat worth Rs 20 crores in South Delhi, Parth Pawar’s (Ajit Pawar’s son) office at Nirmal House, estimated to be worth Rs 25 crores, a sugar factory in Jarandeshwar worth around Rs 600 crores, and a resort in Goa worth around Rs 250 crores.
Besides, the IT-Department has also provisionally attached 27 pieces of land across Maharashtra, the combined market value of which is estimated to be around 500 crores. All these properties are believed to be belonging to Ajit Pawar and his kin.
It may be noted that until the probe isn’t over, Ajit Pawar cannot sell these properties. He has been granted 90 days to prove that these aforementioned properties belonging to him and his family members have not been bought illegally with unaccounted funds.
Unaccounted income worth Rs 184 crore detected in IT raids linked to Ajit Pawar
Prior to this, the IT department, on October 7, had conducted searches multiple premises of two real estate groups in Mumbai linked to the family of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and found unaccounted income of Rs 184 crore.
Without naming Ajit Pawar or his kin, the tax authorities said evidence gathered during raids on 70 locations throughout Mumbai, Pune, Baramati, Goa, and Jaipur pointed to several prima-facie unaccounted and benami transactions. The department said suspiciously procured funds were used to buy properties at these places, besides making investments in a sugar mill.
Sources privy to the case said that the IT authorities had noticed dubious transactions related to Ananta Merx Pvt Ltd, the company of Ajit Pawar’s son Parth. The company was incorporated last year with its registered office address being Nirmal Building at Nariman Point. During the searches conducted on October 7, the agency had seized more than Rs 2.1 crore in unaccounted cash and jewellery worth Rs 4.3 crore.
NCP leader and former Maha HM Anil Deshmukh also under scanner for money laundering
Ajit Pawar is the second NCP leader who is being probed for acquiring illegal properties worth several hundred crores. Besides Pawar, senior NCP leader and former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh is also under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the CBI in alleged extortion and money laundering cases.
In fact, the Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday (November 2) arrested former Maharashtra Minister and NCP leader Anil Deshmukh after over 12 hours of questioning in an extortion and money-laundering case. Deshmukh (71) who was in hiding, was arrested under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
A special PMLA court in Mumbai in the month of September had said that money trails prima facie indicated that former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh received Rs. 4.7 crores from Sachin Waze and his aide Kundan Shinde.
