Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA and grandnephew of NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, Rohit Pawar, reached the Enforcement Directorate office to appear before ED officials in connection with the money laundering probe related to the sale of Kannad Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana (SSK) to Baramati Agro.
Pratibha Pawar reached the NCP office to support Junior Pawar in the absence of Sharad Pawar and Supriya Sule. The NCP office is located a few hundred meters from the agency. Rohit sought blessings from Pratibha Pawar.
Junior Pawar previously appeared before the ED on 24th January. After 12 hours of questioning, he claimed to have answered all the questions posed by the ED officials. He recorded his statement regarding the activities of his company, Baramati Agro, auction-related details, and financial transactions, including operational expenditures of the company, which is purportedly associated with the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) scam.
In his last appearance in the case, he stated that he was summoned again by ED officials who needed additional documents and had more questions related to the case.
Just before the appearance at ED officials in the case, a significant development occurred related to the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) scam. The Economic Offence Wing (EOW) filed a closure report for the second time last week, claiming that even after further investigation into issues raised by the complainant, the agency found no evidence against the office bearers of the bank.
This report comes at a time when the Enforcement Directorate has been questioning Rohit Pawar for money laundering in connection with the same case. However, if the closure report of EOW is accepted by the court, the proceedings initiated for the money laundering case against all the accused, including Rohit Pawar (who is summoned again in the case today) and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, whose name did not appear in the ED chargesheet, will have to be dropped.
