The Income Tax Department has temporarily attached properties belonging to the family of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar under the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions (PBPT) Act, 1988, as part of the ongoing investigation. Indian Express.
Sources said the tax authority has also issued show cause notices to the owners of the attached properties. However, Pawar’s lawyer said in a statement that neither any property has been attached nor any notice has been issued and the IT department has only “sought clarification on certain issues”.
According to sources, the properties under investigation include the Jarandeshwar Cooperative Sugar Factory (Jarandeshwar SSK) in Satara, a resort in Goa, a flat in high altitude Delhi, an office at Nirmal Tower in south Mumbai and 27 across Maharashtra. Are included. Includes pieces of land. .
Pawar’s NCP reacted sharply to the IT move. “The IT department is said to have attached properties belonging to Ajit Pawar. But there is no truth in this. The property belongs to everyone and they say it belongs to Ajit Pawar. This is being done to defame him,” said Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik.
Pawar’s counsel Prashant Patil said a suitable reply would be sent to the IT department on the letter seeking clarification.
According to official sources, a provisional attachment under the PBPT Act can be challenged before a tribunal set up under the SAFEMA (Smuggling and Foreign Exchange Manipulation) Act, 1976.
The IT action was followed on 7 October by a search of a firm where Ajit Pawar’s son Parth is a director; some of the firms owned by her sisters; two real estate firms allegedly linked to him; And the premises of directors of four sugar mills across the state allegedly have indirect links to their families.
On October 15, the tax agency said it had identified alleged unaccounted income of Rs 184 crore after searching the premises of two real estate firms.
The tax authority said the two companies allegedly invested unaccounted money in several other firms through “suspicious” transactions with “involvement of an influential family from Maharashtra”.
The IT department is tracking alleged “suspicious” transactions with the web of companies by these business groups. It said the companies allegedly “launched unaccounted money through various dubious methods such as introduction of fake share premiums, doubtful unsecured loans, receipt of unproven advances for certain services, collusion arbitration deals from non-existent disputes”.
According to the agency, the unaccounted money was allegedly used for “acquisition of various properties like an office building in a prime locality in Mumbai, flats in posh area in Delhi, resort in Goa, agricultural land in Maharashtra and investment in sugar mills”. had gone”. had gone” .
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