4 days ago
MSCB case: Over a year after police claim no case, special court issues summons to Rohit Pawar
OVER A year after the Mumbai Police said that there is no criminal offence in transactions linked to NCP (SP) leader Rohit Pawar in the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) case, a special court Friday issued notice to him based on a chargesheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), observing that there is prima facie proof that he participated knowingly in a fraudulent acquisition of a sugar factory. Rohit, his uncle and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar of NCP, were given a clean chit by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police in its closure report filed in 2024. The court is yet to accept the closure report.
The ED filed a supplementary chargesheet last week naming Rohit, Baramati Agro Pvt Ltd, where he is a director, and Rajendra Ingwale, a director in a company named Hi-Tech Engineering Corporation Pvt Ltd, allegedly linked to the fraudulent acquisition of a sugar factory at an undervalued price. The ED complaint relates to the sale of Kannad Sarkari Sakhar Karkhana (sugar factory), which was taken over by the MSCB after it suffered losses over the years. The bank's executive committee decided through a resolution to fix the reserve price of Rs 51.06 crore for sale of the factory based on a valuation report. Shortly after the auction, the factory was revalued at Rs 75 crore, with the ED alleging deliberate undervaluation.
'There appears to be a pre-arranged scheme between Baramati Agro Ltd and Hi-Tech Engineering Corporation Pvt Ltd to acquire the factory at a suppressed price. Accused Rohit Pawar, director of Baramati Agro Ltd, and accused Rajendra Ingwale, Director of Hi-Tech Engineering Corporation Pvt Ltd, are prima facie found to have knowingly participated in this fraudulent acquisition,' special judge Satyanarayan R Navander said in the order on Friday, issuing summons to Rohit and two others, to remain present on August 21. The court said the auction process was marred by fraudulent practices and there was a prima facie case under Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Rohit had said earlier this week that he was being selectively targeted and due process was followed in the tender process.
The ED claims that while three companies bid for purchasing the sugar factory, two of those were interlinked. The highest bidder, Samrudhi Sagar Ltd, had raised objections about the lack of transparency in the bidding process, alleging that the sealed tender forms were tampered with. Instead of addressing the concerns, the ED claims, the company's bid was rejected on a technicality.
The other two companies, Baramati Agro Pvt Ltd, in which Rohit is a director and Hi-Tech Engineering Corporation Pvt Ltd, the ED claims were interlinked, and that Hi-Tech was a proxy entity or shadow company of Baramati Agro. The ED has claimed that Rs 5 crore were transferred from Baramati Agro to Hi-Tech to guarantee the required earnest money deposit to bid. Special public prosecutor Sunil Gonsalves submitted before the court that this was done to create an illusion of independence and that the auction process was manipulated to disqualify the highest bidder to favour Baramati Agro.
The EOW in its closure report filed in January 2024 had said that the sale of the Kannad sugar factory was during the tenure of the administrator and there was no evidence that there was any irregularity in the process to show a criminal offence. If the EOW closure report is accepted by the court, the ED case cannot continue. The hearing on the closure report is underway. So far, 17 persons have been named accused in the case by the ED.
