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Ajit Pawar said that if anyone has misused his name in the case, strict action should be taken against them.
Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar and his son Parth Pawar. (File)
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Thursday distanced himself from the ongoing row over a land deal in Pune allegedly linked to his son, Parth Pawar, saying that he has no involvement in the matter. Pawar said that if anyone has misused his name in the case, strict action should be taken against them.
“I do not have complete information about whatever the media is showing on TV channels. I have no direct or indirect connection with that matter. The people of Maharashtra have known me for 35 years. I have decided to get complete information about this matter. I had heard about something like this going on two-four months ago. I had given instructions not to do any wrong things. But what happened in the meantime? I do not know,” the Deputy Chief Minister while addressing the reporters.
He said he has never called or instructed any officer to ensure benefits for his relatives.
“I wish to make clear to officers that I won’t support any wrong actions by anyone citing my name to get their work done,” he said.
“When your children grow up, they do their own business,” he added.
He further asserted that he is the person who works within rules and within the framework of the law. He also urged Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to investigate the matter and punish the culprits.
CM Fadnavis Forms Committee
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis formed an inquiry committee to probe the allegations of graft and irregularities in the land deal.
“I have sought all the information regarding the issue. Revenue department, IGR, land records have been asked to be submitted. I have also directed that an appropriate inquiry be held. Serious issues are coming forward at the primary level. Therefore, I will speak only after taking necessary information,” said Fadnavis, while speaking to the reporters at Nagpur, when asked about the alleged scam.
“I believe that even the deputy chief minister would not support such a deal. Because we have unanimity in the government, wherever irregularity has taken place, action should be taken. We will verify whether there is an irregularity or not and will accordingly take action,” he added.
What’s The Row?
A political row was triggered over a land deal in Pune allegedly linked to Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s son, Parth Pawar.
As per reports, the prime 40-acre plot in Pune, valued at nearly Rs 1,800 crore, was sold for just about Rs 300 crore to Parth Pawar’s company, Amadea Enterprises LLP. What has shocked many even more is that the stamp duty paid on the deal was reportedly only Rs 500.
According to an official, 40 acres of “Mahar Vatan land belonging to the government” in Pune’s upmarket Mundhwa area was sold to the firm for Rs 300 crore, and the stamp duty on it was waived. Besides Parth Pawar, Digvijay Patil, in whose name the registration has taken place, is the co-partner in the firm.
Being government land, the plot cannot be sold to a private firm, he said. Sources in the revenue department claimed that on the ‘7/12 extract’, a key property document, the land is in the name of ‘Mumbai Sarkar’.
Industries Minister Uday Samant said his department did not grant any waiver in stamp duty for the land.
Samant claimed baseless reports that the company was given a stamp duty waiver and the transaction was completed for merely Rs 500.
The company has not applied to the Industries Department for any stamp duty concession under the Information Technology and IT-enabled Services Policy, 2023, Samant told reporters.
“Issuing a Letter of Intent (LoI) does not mean that a waiver or concession has been approved. It is only a preliminary step for eligibility verification. No financial benefit is granted through it,” he said.
The minister added that a cabinet sub-committee takes calls on waivers and incentives.
Inspector General of Registration Ravindra Binwade told news agency PTI that the high-level committee will find out how the government land was sold to a private firm and ascertain whether the exemption was given as per the norms.
“The documents submitted to claim the exemption will be checked. The committee will also see what sort of documents were produced during registration. But as an immediate action, we have suspended a sub-registrar-rank official. If it is government land, the registration should not have taken place,” he said.
Taking action, the government suspended tehsildar Suryakant Yewale and sub-registrar Ravindra Taru. The authorities have accused Taru of illegally registering the transaction, violating standard government procedures and causing losses to both the original landowner and the state exchequer.
A senior Revenue Department official confirmed that an FIR has also been registered against Taru, the seller, and the purchaser for further investigation into the case.
Political Uproar
Baramati MP Supriya Sule said the government should first clarify if the deal has taken place or not. “First, it was said that Rs 21 crore stamp duty has been waived. Now, it is said that Rs 6 crore has been waived. Was stamp duty paid or not?” she said.
Saying that the government was giving confusing signals, Sule said the government first said the deal did not take place. “Then how come stamp duty was paid? The Maharashtra government is trying to confuse us. The government and the chief minister should set the record straight. The CM should clarify…If the tehsildar says he has not signed on the land deal, then has the deal taken place or not? How can they suspend the tehsildar?”
Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray said that the government will eventually give a “clean chit” to those involved in the land deal.
“The issue of land deal involving Ajit Pawar’s son, Parth Pawar, is going on. But nothing substantial will come out of it. The government will eventually give a clean chit to them.” “Earlier, corruption cases involving ministers from the (Eknath) Shinde group had surfaced. What happened to them?” the former Chief Minister said as quoted by news agecny PTI.
Senior Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar demanded a judicial inquiry into the transaction, claiming it was done in violation of the law.
“The purchase of land by the company of Parth Pawar, son of Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Ajit Pawar, must be investigated in a transparent manner,” he claimed.
He said the file related to the deal moved “at rocket speed” through government departments. “Within hours, the Directorate of Industries not only approved the transfer of land to the company for an IT park and data centre but also waived stamp duty of Rs 21 crore,” he claimed.
(With inputs from agencies)
Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Hons) degree from Ben…Read More
Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Hons) degree from Ben… Read More
November 06, 2025, 18:15 IST
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