Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Friday reacted to Enforcement Directorate attaching a sugar mill linked to him, in money laundering case.
Pawar said,"Agency has right to conduct inquiry. Earlier CID & ACB did investigation but nothing came out. EoW probe is also underway. Investigation done from all sides but nothing came out."
He further said,"I will surely appeal wherever it is required because many workers' bread and butter is completely based on Jarandeshwar factory (named by ED in a PMLA case. I will be taking advocates' advice and do whatever is needed."
While Sanjay Raut of Shiv Sena said, "Everyone knows about the controversy investigated by ED & CBI. If anyone thinks this can break the Maharashtra government, they're wrong. Even if the Army is deployed, nothing will change."
The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday attached properties worth over Rs 65 crore of a sugar mill linked to Ajit Pawar. The action was taken under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
ED said in a statement that it has attached the properties including land, building and structure and plant and machinery of Jarandeshwar Sahkari Sugar Karkhana at Chimangaon, Koregaon, Satara worth Rs 65,75,00,000 under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering in a case related to Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank (MSCB).
"The assets are currently held in the name of Guru Commodity Services Pvt. Ltd. and leased to Jarandeshwar Sugar Mills Pvt. Ltd. Sparkling Soil Pvt. Ltd. is holding majority shares of Jarandeshwar Sugar Mills Pvt. Ltd. Investigations revealed that Sparkling Soil Pvt. Ltd. is related company to Ajit Pawar, Deputy Chief Minister of State of Maharashtra and Sunetra Ajit Pawar," the statement said.
The ED initiated investigations under the PMLA based upon an FIR of August 26 in 2019 registered by the Economic Offence Wing of Mumbai Police under sections IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act.