ED raids Rohit R. Pawar’s Baramati Agro in money-laundering case

Pune: The Enforcement Directorate on Friday raided the Baramati Agro premises linked with Nationalist Congress Party (SP) MLA Rohit R. Pawar, the grand-nephew of party supremo Sharad Pawar, in a money-laundering case.

Besides the Baramati premises, teams of ED sleuths swooped on fiver other locations in the money-laundering case pertaining to the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) scam.

It was alleged that the cooperative cooperative factory at Kannad was sold to Baramati Agro Pvt Ltd. for Rs 50 crore and the working capital was availed from different accounts of various banks for the money utilised for the purchase deal.

Besides Baramati Ago, other companies like Hitech Engineering Corporation India Ltd and Samruddhi Sugars Pvt. Ltd also participated in the Kannad factory auction.

However, the Rs 5 crore earnest money paid by Hitech Engineering Corporation India Ltd was allegedly availed from Baramati Agro, controlled by Rohit R. Pawar and his father Rajendra Pawar.

After the Mumbai Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) filed its FIR in the MSCB scam, the ED’s money-laundering case was lodged and all the firms/individuals which took part in the sugar mill’s auction are now under the ED radar.

Earlier, the EOW filed its closure report stating that no fraud was committed in the auctions in the MSCB imbroglio, but in November 2022, it sought the court’s permission to probe the companies linked with Rohit R. Pawar in the scam, contending that these entities had acquired the sick sugar mill vide auctions with suspicious transactions.

The NCP-SP threw its full weight behind Rohit R. Pawar with several leaders offering support. National General Secretary Dr. Jitendra Awhad said that “this is the result of standing with Sharad Pawar Saheb with loyalty and strength”, and without taking names, targeted breakaway NCP-AP's Deputy CM Ajit Pawar.

"Its bad that our own ‘home-break’ colleagues are involved in this. But I believe that Rohit R. Pawar will not succumb to all these pressure techniques, on the contrary, he will come out of the crisis," said Dr. Awhad.

Senior NCP-SP leader Anil Deshmukh said “today’s struggle creates tomorrow’s strength”, and the party’s youth leader Rohit R. R. Patil, and others also expressed support to Rohit R. Pawar, currently abroad.

On his part, Rohit R. Pawar said that "this is the face of the progressive thoughts of self-respecting Maharashtra which has preserved and nurtured generations. The land of Maharashtra also has a long history of struggle as these great personalities have taught us to struggle against injustice. Therefore, as a Marathi, everyone has to be prepared for struggle to preserve the Maharashtrian values".