MSEB 'scam': Rohit Pawar targeted for raising voice against govt, claims Sule

Pune: NCP (SP) Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule on Monday claimed her party MLA Rohit Pawar, who has been named in a chargesheet in the alleged Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) scam, was being targeted for raising voice against the government.

The ED named Pawar, who represents the Karjat-Jamkhed assembly constituency in Ahilyanagar district, as an accused in the chargesheet submitted in a special court in Mumbai recently in the alleged MSCB scam.

The MSCB money laundering case stems from an August 2019 FIR of the Mumbai police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW), alleging fraudulent sale of SSKs (Sahakari Sakhar Kharkhana or cooperative sugar mills) by the then officers and directors of the MSCB at throwaway prices to their relatives/private persons without following the due procedure.

The Kannad SSK in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar was purchased by Baramati Agro Ltd, which is a company of Pawar.

The MLA, who is the grandnephew of NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, on Saturday claimed he has not done anything wrong and that he was being targeted with political motives.

Asked about the ED naming Rohit Pawar in the chargesheet, Sule claimed he was being politically targeted for being in the opposition party.

"Rohit had shared a list of names that were in the original FIR. Most of them are now associated with the BJP. He is being targeted for being in the opposition and for raising his voice against the government," she alleged.

The probe agency has alleged that MSCB, in order to recover an outstanding loan of Rs 80.56 crore of Kannad SSK Limited, took possession of all its assets on July 13, 2009 under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFAESI) Act.

The MSCB then conducted an auction on August 30, 2012 of Kannad SSK by fixing a "very low" reserve price based on a questionable valuation report. Apart from Baramati Agro, two other parties entered the bidding process.

The bidder with the highest bid was technically disqualified on flimsy grounds, whereas the other bidder was already a close business associate of Baramati Agro with no financial capacity or experience of running a sugar unit, the ED has claimed.