The Enforcement Directorate on Friday attached assets worth more than Rs 50 crore of a sugar mill owned by NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar's grandnephew Rohit Pawar.
The action relates to the federal agency’s money laundering investigation into the alleged Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank (MSCB) scam.
The ED in a statement said that a total of 161.130 acres of land, plant, machinery and building of the Kannad Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana Limited (Kannad SSK) located in Kannad village of Aurangabad district has been provisionally attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The total value of these assets is Rs 50.20 crore, it said.
The "acquisition" of Kannad SSK by Baramati Agro Ltd was illegal and therefore the assets are "proceeds of crime" under the PMLA, ED claimed.
The agency said the MSCB, 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 SARFAESI Act.
The MSCB conducted an auction on August 30, 2012, of Kannad SSK by fixing a "very low" reserve price based on a questionable valuation report, the ED alleged.
"Apart from 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 Baramati Agro Ltd. with no financial capacity or experience of running a sugar unit," it said.
The MSCB money laundering case stems from an August 2019 FIR of the Mumbai Police Economic Offences Wing (EOW).
Connected to the case, the ED has filed three charge sheets till now and has attached assets worth Rs 121.47 crore.
