Land deal linked to Parth Pawar: Cops seize sale deed, other documents as part of probe

Pune, Nov 7 (PTI) The Pimpri Chinchwad police on Friday seized the copy of the sale deed and other documents from the sub-registrar's office here in connection with its probe into a land deal by a firm in which Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's son Parth is a partner.

A Rs 300 crore deal for the sale of a 40 acre plot in upscale Mundhwa area to Amadea Enterprises LLP has triggered a political slugfest since the land belongs to the government and the requisite stamp duty was also waived. Moreover, Opposition parties alleged the land in question was worth Rs 1800 crore.

"We conducted a panchnama at the sub-registrar's office in Bavdhan today and seized the scanned copy of the sale deed and other key documents related to the Mundhwa property. We are verifying the documents and the roles of the buyer, seller, and the sub-registrar who executed the deed," said Bavdhan police station senior inspector Anil Vibhute said.

Queried about Parth Pawar not being named in the FIR, Vibhute said only three people, Digvijay Patil, Shital Tejwani and the sub-registrar R B Taru, have been booked as they were part of the entire process of sale deed execution.

"The sale deed was signed by Patil. The offence has been registered against these three people for cheating the government by evading 1 per cent local body cess and 1 per cent metro tax, which in total comes to Rs 6 crore," he said.

Asked about arrests, Vibhute said probe is on and further action will be based on guidance by senior officials.

Joint IGR Rajendra Muthe too said Patil has been named in the FIR since he signed the documents.

"If we or the police later find any documents signed by others, necessary action will be taken against them as well. We are also checking why the controversial sale deed did not get flagged in our system, despite the higher office having written to Patil that 2 per cent tax needed to be paid in any condition," Muthe said.

As per official documents, Amadea Enterprises LLP is owned 99 per cent by Parth Pawar and 1 per cent by his cousin Digvijay Patil.

The state revenue department has also set up a high level committee to probe the transaction.

The committee under Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue) Vikas Kharge will inquire into the "unauthorised registration of documents" related to Survey No. 88 in Mouje Mundhwa in Pune city and determine whether the transaction caused any financial loss to the state exchequer. PTI SPK BNM