Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Thursday verbally questioned the Maharashtra government on why Rajya Sabha MP Parth Pawar, son of Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar, has not been listed as an accused person in the Mundhwa land scam case, even though he holds a 99% stake in the firm that allegedly purchased the land in question.
Parth Pawar reportedly holds a 99% stake in Amadea Enterprises LLP, which allegedly bought a 40-acre government-owned land parcel in the Mundhwa area of Pune at a price that was significantly lower than its actual value.
The land parcel fell under the category of Mahar Watan land, which was historically granted to members of the Mahar Scheduled Caste community, and cannot be sold without the government's nod.
The case
Justice Madhav Jamdar of the High Court was on Thursday hearing the anticipatory bail petition of suspended Pune City Tehsildar Suryakant Yewale, one of the persons accused in the case.
While granting pre-arrest bail to the official, the judge questioned why Parth Pawar’s name did not figure in the accused list, Bar and Bench reported.
‘99% shareholder not beneficiary?’
The court remarked that Digvijay Patil, who holds a 1% stake in Amadea Enterprises, was named as an accused person, while Pawar, who holds a 99% stake, was not.
“Your stand as the Investigating Officer (IO) is that the person who is having 99 percent shareholding is not responsible and the one who is accused is the person having 1 percent shareholding. Is the person who is having 99 percent share, Parth Pawar, not a beneficiary of this transaction? What is shocking is that the investigating officer has filed an affidavit stating that a person with 99 percent is not responsible but the person having 1 percent share is responsible,” the judge was quoted as saying by Bar and Bench.
The case pertains to the allegedly unauthorised sale of the plot in Mundhwa to Amadea Enterprises for Rs 300 crore. The land had been leased to the Botanical Survey of India.
The company was also allegedly granted an exemption from paying Rs 21 crore in stamp duty.
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