Maharashtra deputy CM’s kin face tax raids
Ajit Pawar’s family aside, some realty firms also face heat
The Income Tax Department on Thursday raided some businesses linked to family members of Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and some real estate developers on charges of alleged tax evasion, official sources said.
They said the searches are being conducted in Mumbai, Pune, Satara and a few other cities of in Maharashtra and Goa.
The premises linked to business groups such as DB Realty, Shivalik, Jarandeshwar Sahkari Sugar Karkhana (Jarandeshwar SSK) and businesses linked to Pawar’s sisters are being covered under the ongoing probe.
Some documents have been recovered and are being studied, the sources said.
Jarandeshwar SSK was in the news recently after the Enforcement Directorate (ED), in July, attached over Rs65 crore worth of land, building, plant and machinery of its sugar mill at Chimangaon-Koregaon in Satara under the anti-money laundering law.
The ED had claimed that the cooperative-run sugar mill was linked to Pawar and his family.
“The assets (of Jarandeshwar SSK) are currently held in the name of Guru Commodity Services Pvt Ltd (an alleged dummy company) and leased to Jarandeshwar Sugar Mills Pvt Ltd,” the ED had alleged in a statement.
“Sparkling Soil Pvt Ltd is holding majority shares of Jarandeshwar Sugar Mills and investigations revealed that the former firm is related company to Ajit Pawar, deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, and Sunetra Ajit Pawar (his wife),” it had alleged.