Within days after he shot off a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah accusing Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and Transport Minister Anil Parab of indulging in extortion, State BJP president Chandrakant Patil on Friday warned that 24 co-operative sugar factories and spinning mills — run by the ruling MVA leaders — will now be on the radar of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for alleged money laundering.
Patil’s statement came a day after the ED ordered attachment of the Rs 65 crore-worth Jarandeshwar cooperative sugar factory at Satara in western Maharashtra, as part of the probe into the massive alleged scam in the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB).
On his part, Ajit Pawar on Friday denied that he or his wife Sunetra were involved in any manner with the attached Jarandeshwar sugar factory. “The allegations made against me are politically motivated. The Jarandeshwar matter has already been probed by various agencies and nothing came out of it. Politics is being deliberately played on this and the future of many workers is at stake. We are taking legal advice in the matter,” the DCM told media persons here.
The deputy chief minister said that the sugar factory was sold as per the directions of the Bombay High Court and he was not connected in any manner with Guru Commodity Services Pvt. Ltd. which won the bidding process to take over the factory.
Meanwhile, talking to media persons in Pune, State BJP chief Chandrakant Patil said: “Legal action initiated against Jarandeshwar Sugar co-operative factory is just the beginning. All such sugar and spinning mills will soon be under the ED’s scanner for alleged money laundering indulged in through the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB)”.