Commenting on NCP leader Ajit Pawar and his wife not being named in the MSC bank chargesheet, Shiva Sena Uddhav Thackeray faction leader Sanjay Raut reiterated his allegation of Central investigation agencies being misused by the Narendra Modi government for political purposes.
“It clearly means that You misused ED and CBI. You started an investigation, harassed Pawar family, their relatives etc, raided their premises and now you don’t find anything to name them in the chargesheet(MSC bank chargesheet). So it’s clear that ED and CBI were misused in this case too,” he alleged on Wednesday. Enforcement Directorate (ED) has on Wednesday submitted a chargesheet in Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSC Bank) scam case in a court dealing with money laundering cases. The charge sheet does not include the names of former Maharashtra Deputy CM & NCP leader Ajit Pawar and his wife, though properties, owned by a company in which Ajit Pawar and his wife are majority shareholders, were attached by ED in July 2021 in the case.
But the charge sheet has named the company, Sparkling Soil Pvt Ltd, linked to Ajit Pawar and his wife. The ED had attached properties including land, building and machinery of Jarandeshwar Cooperative Sugar Mill( owned by Sparkling Soil Pvt Ltd) worth Rs 65 crore in July 2021 in this case. The matter is listed for hearing on April 19.
The case relates to the alleged fraudulent disbursal of loans amounting to 25,000 crores. The case triggered the filing of a PIL Petition in the Bombay high court by four persons. The PIL Shedded light on the alleged modus operandi of the fraud.
In the Petition it was alleged that after some sugar mills defaulted on the loans, which were given without due diligence, Those sugar mills were attached by the MSC banks and auctioned to various office bearers of the bank and politicians. And one of the alleged beneficiaries was Ajit Pawar.
Acting on the PIL the Bombay high court ordered the registration of a case. The Economic Offences Wing(EOW), which is under the Maharashtra government, investigated the case. When EOW filed a closure report in 2020 in the Bombay Session Court, ED filed an intervention petition against the closure report and started an investigation.