The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday conducted raids at several locations linked to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA and Sharad Pawar's grandnephew Rohit Pawar in connection with the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) scam The agency searched the premises of Baramati Agro, a company owned by Rohit Pawar, along with other firms and individuals allegedly involved in the money laundering case
The MSCB scam is an alleged fraud of Rs 25,000 crore, in which the bank officials are accused of giving loans to sugar factories in a fraudulent manner, without following the due procedure, and later selling them to the relatives and associates of the accused at a lower price The scam came to light after a public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in the Bombay High Court in 2019, which ordered the registration of an FIR against 70 politicians, including Sharad Pawar, Ajit Pawar, and other NCP, Congress, and Shiv Sena leaders
However, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai Police filed a closure report in the case in 2020, stating that they did not find any evidence against the accused.The ED, meanwhile, filed a case of money laundering and attached the properties of a sugar mill linked to Ajit Pawar and his wife Sunetra Pawar in 2021. The ED also issued summons to 11 persons and companies, including NCP MLA Prajakt Tanpure, former NCP MLA Prasad Tanpure, former Congress minister Ranjeet Deshmukh, and industrialist Sameer Mulay, in December 2023
The latest raids by the ED have triggered a political controversy in Maharashtra, where the NCP is part of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition with the Shiv Sena and the Congress. The NCP has alleged that the ED is acting at the behest of the BJP-led central government and targeting its leaders out of political vendetta.The BJP, on the other hand, has claimed that the ED raids are based on evidence and that the NCP leaders are involved in a massive corruption scam
The MSCB scam is one of the many cases that have exposed the murky dealings of the cooperative sector in Maharashtra, which is dominated by the political elite. The scam also raises questions about the accountability and transparency of the cooperative banks, which cater to the needs of the farmers and the rural population. Aaj ki rajneeti ki gajab kahani hai, jismein satta, paisa, aur rishte ka khel chalta hai. (Today's politics is a strange story, in which power, money, and relationships play a role.)