Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Member of Legislative Council (MLC) Amol Mitkari took to X (formerly Twitter) and backed his party chief Ajit Pawar's son, Parth, amid the Pune land deal controversy. "#ISupportParthDada," tweeted Mitkari, along with a Hindi couplet.
In another tweet, the NCP leader criticised social activist Anna Hazare for speaking on the case. "The sudden awakening of the self-proclaimed social worker and the sleeping Anna is no coincidence," he wrote.
Meanwhile, mounting a damage control exercise, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has claimed that his son Parth was not aware that the land purchased by his firm in Pune belonged to the government, and informed that the ₹300 crore deal has now been cancelled.
"The concerned land is government land, which cannot be sold. Parth and his partner Digvijay Patil were not aware of this fact. How the registration (of its sale) was done and who is responsible will come out in the probe being headed by ACS Vikas Kharge, and he will submit his report in a month," Pawar said.
The authorities had not been pressurised to transfer the land to Parth Pawar's company (Amadea Enterprises LLP), the Deputy CM said.
The deal for the sale of 40 acres of government land in the upscale Mundhwa area to Amadea Enterprises came under the scanner for want of required clearances. Opposition leaders alleged that its market value was ₹1,800 crore.
In a related development, the Department of Registration and Stamps has informed Digvijay Amarsinh Patil, the cousin of Parth Pawar and a partner in Amadea Enterprises LLP, that the firm must pay the earlier 7 per cent stamp duty (5 per cent under the Maharashtra Stamp Act, 1 per cent Local Body Tax, and 1 per cent Metro Cess), as it had sought an exemption by claiming a data centre was proposed on the land.
It must also pay an additional 7 per cent stamp duty to execute the cancellation deed, officials from the department said.
According to the department, the firm had claimed a stamp duty exemption at the time of the sale deed by stating that a data centre would be set up on the land.
But the cancellation deed now submitted shows that the plan has been dropped, it noted.
