Sugar mill sale case: ED attaches ₹50.20 crore assets linked to NCP MLA Rohit Pawar

ED Mumbai attaches assets worth ₹50.20 crore linked to illegal sugar mill sale involving NCP MLA Rohit Pawar's company.

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Mumbai attached assets valued at ₹50.20 crore belonging to M/s Kannad Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana Limited (Kannad SSK), owned by M/s Baramati Agro Ltd.

Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) MLA Rohit Pawar, the grandnephew of the patriarch, is the CEO of Baramato Agro Ltd.

This move is in accordance with the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, and is related to a case involving the illegal sale of sugar mills by the Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank (MSCB), ED officials said on Friday. The attached assets include 161.30 acres of land, plant, and machinery, and a building of the sugar unit located at Kannad in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district (previously Aurangabad).

The agency initiated the investigations based on an FIR registered by the Economic Offence Wing of the Mumbai Police under various Sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act. The FIR was filed following the Bombay High Court’s Order dated August 22, 2019.

The allegations in the FIR suggest fraudulent sales of SSKs (sugar mills) by MSCB officials and directors to relatives or private individuals without proper procedures

The agency’s investigation revealed that MSCB took possession of Kannad SSK Limited’s assets on July 13, 2009, under the SARFAESI Act to recover an outstanding loan of Rs. 80.56 Crore. However, the subsequent auction of Kannad SSK in 2012 was marred by irregularities, including disqualification of the highest bidder and questionable ties between other bidders, officials said.

“Apart from M/s Baramati Agro Ltd., two other parties entered into the bidding process. The bidder with the highest bid was technically disqualified on flimsy ground, whereas the other bidder was already a close business associate of M/s Baramati Agro Ltd. with no financial capacity or experience of running sugar unit,” they said.