Pune: The Pune crime branch raided the office of Design Box, a company said to be associated with Ajit Pawar’s NCP. What is being called a “visit” triggered political speculation before the polling day, January 15.
Polling-Day Timing
Design Box is owned by Naresh Arora, who is a political advisor to Ajit Pawar. Sources said police officials examined documents at the office but the exact purpose of the visit was not known by the end of the day.
Design Box has reportedly been working for Pawar and NCP since the Lok Sabha elections, providing political communication and campaign-related services. The timing of the police action has made political chatter in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad louder.
NCP Reacts
NCP MLA Amol Mitkari said, “I do not yet have complete information about this action – who is behind it and who the mastermind is. We will discuss this after January 16. Such raids are not a simple matter. There appears to be a political angle to this action, and we will respond to it.”
Meanwhile, Pune Commissioner of Police, Amitesh Kumar, issued a clarification, stating that no action has been taken against Arora and no case has been registered.
Pawar confirmed the development on X and said that the officials were there “with the objective of gathering information”. He said full cooperation was extended to them and “no objectionable matter or irregularity was found”. He added that his party stands firmly behind Arora and his firm.
Arora called a press conference in the night and told media persons that crime branch officials asked them about their work profile. “At the time of their visit, no senior official of the company was present at the office. They asked for a few documents and numbers. However, our staff refused to provide the information without proper identification,” he said.
He said it was found that an unknown person complained about his firm distributing money during the election campaign, which he denied outright. “We called the complainant number many times but there was no response,” he said, adding that the crime branch hasn’t told him what the complaint was.
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