Maharashtra cabinet minister Jayant Patil on Thursday claimed that the BJP was trying to defame NCP leaders after the Income Tax department booked state deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar’s family members and some real estate developers on charges of alleged tax evasion. Some businesses were raided. Official sources said that the search operation is going on in Mumbai, Pune, Satara and some other cities of Maharashtra and Goa.
Sources said premises belonging to business groups such as DB Realty, Shivalik, Jarandeshwar Sahakari Sugar Factory (Jarandeshwar SSK) and businesses linked to Pawar’s sisters are being covered under the ongoing campaign. He said some documents have been recovered and they are being studied.
Speaking to reporters in Pune, Patil, who is also the state NCP president, said, “I have been saying for a long time that BJP leaders take names of our leaders and take action by ED, Income Tax, CBI. Nobody Doubt remains that this is a conspiracy of BJP to defame our leaders.” He wondered why the BJP was so “afraid” of the NCP. Sharad Pawar-led NCP shares power in Maharashtra with Shiv Sena and Congress.
On Wednesday, BJP leader and former MP Kirit Somaiya had visited Jarandeshwar SSK in Satara and Baramati town in Pune, from where Ajit Pawar is an MLA. Ajit Pawar, who is also the state’s finance minister, said on Thursday that some institutions linked to him were raided. The NCP leader said he had no problem with the Income Tax department’s raids on companies linked to him, but he was upset that his three sisters were dragged into it.
Jarandeshwar SSK was in the news recently after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in July attached land, building, plant and machinery worth over Rs 65 crore of its sugar mill at Chimangaon-Koregaon in Satara under the Anti-Money Laundering Act. . The ED had claimed that the cooperative sugar mill was linked to Ajit Pawar and his family.
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