Amid reports that properties to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore linked to Maharashtra deputy chief minister and senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar and his family have been provisionally attached by the Income Tax (IT) department, the senior politician’s lawyer has issued a denial.
“No properties of Ajit Pawar have either been attached nor have we received any such notice in this regard,” Pawar’s advocate Prashant Patil said in a press statement.
However, he said that the IT department has sought some clarifications and an appropriate reply is being sent.
So far there is no official word from the IT department on the action involving the nephew of NCP founder-president Sharad Pawar.
Senior BJP leader Kirit Somaiya however, had claimed that properties linked to Pawar have been attached - and released a list of these properties.
Five properties including Nirmal Tower (Rs 25 crore) at Mumbai's Nariman Point, Jarandeshwar cooperative sugar factory (Rs 600 crore), a flat in South Delhi (Rs20 crore) and a resort in Goa (Rs 250 crore) were povisionally attached, according to Somaiya.
The Nirmal Tower property belongs to Ajit Pawar’s son Parth Pawar.
The IT department has allegdely given 90 days’ time to prove that these properties have not been purchased through unaccounted money.
“Income Tax authorities have attached Ajit Pawar's son Parth Pawar's Nirmal Tower officer and that of his mother, wife, sisters and in-laws,” he tweeted.
NCP chief spokesperson and state minority affairs minister Nawab Malik said that it was wrong to link relatives' properties with those of Pawar's. “It’s being just done to target the MVA government and its leaders,” he said.
Last month, the IT department had conducted raids at houses and companies of Pawar’s sisters and unearthed proof of unaccounted incomes of around Rs 184 crore.
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