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In a major blow to Ajit Pawar, deputy chief minister of Maharashtra (India) and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader in the state, the Income-Tax (IT) Department has provisionally seized properties worth around Rs10 billion across Maharashtra, Delhi and Goa belonging to his family members.
IT department sources revealed on Tuesday that the raids were carried out after it discovered unaccounted income of Rs1.84 billion last month during a search operation of two real estate firms in Mumbai, linked to Pawar.
The assets have been attached under the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988.
Officials have also attached a resort in Goa, an apartment in a posh Delhi locality and an office in south Mumbai, all allegedly associated with the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra.
None of the properties, however, are owned by Pawar, though his close relatives including son Parth and two sisters have links with them.
Incidentally, Ajit Pawar has had a love-hate relationship with the BJP, both in Maharashtra and at the Centre.
The nephew of Maharashtra’s top political leader, Sharad Pawar, Ajit, 63, joined hands with the state’s BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis and was deputy chief minister for just about three days in November 2019.
Days later, he switched sides and joined the NCP, which together with the Congress, propped up the Shiv Sena-led government in the state. He was again made deputy chief minister.
Interestingly, Sharad Pawar too claims that he has been ‘targeted’ in the past by agencies including the IT department and the Enforcement Directorate. Describing the government officers as ‘guests,’ Pawar recently remarked: “Guests have been visiting Ajit Pawar. We are never scared of guests.”
According to Pawar, the BJP government at the centre is misusing agencies against political opponents.
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