Last Updated: March 08, 2024, 23:51 IST
File photo of the Enforcement Directorate
These assets were held by M/s Baramati Agro Ltd, with a total value of Rs. 50.20 crore, and were seized in connection with a money laundering case related to the illegal sale of sugar factories
The Enforcement Directorate on Friday attached 161.30 acres of land, plant and machinery, and building structures belonging to a sugar unit in Kannad, Aurangabad.
These assets were held by M/s Baramati Agro Ltd, with a total value of Rs. 50.20 crore, and were seized in connection with a money laundering case related to the illegal sale of sugar factories by the Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank to M/s Baramati Agro Ltd.
What is this case?
An FIR was filed with Mumbai Police’s Economic Offence Wing (EOW), leading to the registration of an ECIR by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Last year, the ED submitted its first chargesheet in the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) scam case against Jarandeshwar Sugar Mills. The chargesheet established links to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, but did not name him as an accused.
Subsequently, another chargesheet was filed, which included the name of NCP MLA Prajakt Tanpure, among others.
In this case, the ED has twice interrogated Rohit Pawar, the grandnephew of NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, regarding his involvement in the acquisition of the distressed sugar mill, Kannad SSK Aurangabad, through his company Baramati Agro Pvt Ltd in an auction conducted by MSCB.
The probe agency asserted that the “acquisition” of Kannad SSK by Baramati Agro Ltd was illegal, designating the assets acquired as “proceeds of crime” under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
MSCB, spanning 31 district central co-operative banks, provided loans to cooperative sugar factories from 2002 to 2017. Subsequently, these factories were auctioned off at lower prices.
The EOW FIR alleged that the SSKs were fraudulently sold by MSCB officials and directors of MSCB at throw-away prices to their relatives or private persons without following the due procedure.
What is EOW’s stance?
The EOW has submitted its second closure report, giving a clean chit to Ajit Pawar and other senior politicians, including Rohit Pawar.
