Mumbai: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and MLA Rohit Pawar will be questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) today. Meanwhile, his supporters have gathered outside the NCP office in support of him. During Pawar's questioning, NCP chief Sharad Pawar will be present at the party office. MP Supriya Sule will also be present. The workers have been gathering since morning.
NCP workers will protest outside the office. Sule will also participate in the protest. Pawar has appealed to the workers not to gather in large numbers. The ED had raided Baramati Agro a few days ago. Three leaders of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government have been summoned by the ED. These include Pawar, Shiv Sena leader Kishori Pednekar, and Shiv Sena MLA Ravindra Waikar.
What is the case about?
The Kannad cooperative sugar factory was auctioned by the Shikhar bank after it became sick. Companies interested in the auction had taken money from various banks. There are allegations of irregularities in the auction process and that Baramati Agro bought the factory for just ₹50 crore at the time. It is also said that the financial transactions between the companies that participated in the auction process were suspicious. The companies that participated in the auction were Baramati Agro, Hitech Engineering Corporation India Ltd., and Samridhi Sugar Pvt. Ltd. In this, Hitech company had paid the initial five crore rupees for the auction, which is alleged to have been taken from Baramati Agro.