ED Grills NCP MLA Rohit Pawar for Eight Hours in MSCB Money Laundering Case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) questioned Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar group) MLA Rohit Pawar for eight hours on Thursday in connection with a money laundering case involving an alleged scam at the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB). This was Pawar's second questioning in ten days. Pawar is the grand nephew of the outfit's founder, Sharad Pawar.

After leaving the Mumbai ED questioning, Rohit Pawar said he wasn't afraid and denied any wrongdoing, claiming a battle for ideology was about to begin.

In relation to the money laundering investigation, this was Rohit Pawar's second appearance before the ED in the previous ten days. Rohit Pawar is a member of the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP, which is in the Maharashtra opposition.

The central agency had already questioned the 38-year-old MLA from Karjat-Jamkhed in the Ahmednagar district on January 24.

He arrived to the ED's office in South Mumbai's Ballard Estate at 1:05 PM on Thursday and departed around 9 PM.

Earlier in the day, he went to the agency's headquarters with his family. Workers from the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) welcomed him with yells as he came out of the building. When the member appeared before the ED, Pratibha Pawar, the wife of Sharad Pawar, was present in the adjacent NCP office as a show of support.

Speaking to supporters after the grilling, Rohit Pawar said he was asked by the agency to turn in some paperwork and was informed that, should the necessity arise, he would be questioned once again.

"Before going into politics, I worked in business. There is nothing wrong with me. Government officials should be aware that I am not afraid. In a subtle jab at his uncle, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who crossed ranks and joined the Eknath Shinde administration in July 2023, Rohit Pawar said, "Those who got scared ran away."

The lawmaker stated that he has inquired about a closure report that the Mumbai police's Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) submitted to a city court. The report concerned an alleged Rs 25,000-crore scam at MSCB, the state's top cooperative lender, which primarily refinances district central cooperative banks (DCCBs). The EOW looked into the purported scheme in isolation.

"The EOW has filed a closure report in the case for which I am being interrogated," he said.

In an effort to draw attention to concerns like unemployment and inflation, the congressman conducted an 800-kilometer state-wide 'Yuva Sangharsh Yatra' last year, during which thousands of young people walked beside him. He said that "real Marathi people" aren't afraid of challenges.

Rohit Pawar added, "Some people are only after power and posts, but he was fighting for ideology," without identifying anybody.

The Rajya Sabha MP Sharad Pawar and his Lok Sabha colleague Supriya Sule are in New Delhi for the current Parliamentary budget session.

Hundreds of party members, who had traveled from all across the state, gathered at the south Mumbai office of the NCP and also in the vicinity of the ED's building to protest the agency's summons to Rohit Pawar.

Workers from the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) protested the ED move separately at the Pune district's Pimpri-Chinchwad township. Over a thousand workers participated in the protest, according to Tushar Kamthe, head of the party's Pimpri-Chinchwad section.

Kamthe said the government was directing the central agency's operations.

The individual who is now defending the rights of young people, women, and laborers is the target of action taken by the ED. "It is the ED's fault that Rohit Pawar brought up issues pertaining to young people during the Sangharsh Yatra," he said.

Barricades were erected on the highways leading to the financial capital's ED office, and a substantial contingent of police officers was stationed nearby.

The EOW's August 2019 FIR is what gave rise to the MSCB money laundering case.

On January 5, the ED searched the offices of Baramati Agro, a business owned by Rohit Pawar, as well as a few other companies in Baramati town, Pune city, Aurangabad, and a few other places in the state.

The Bombay High Court's decision to look into claims that several financially troubled cooperative sugar plants in Maharashtra were transferred to private companies at throwaway rates prompted the registration of the lawsuit.

Lending to sugar cooperatives, spinning mills, and other organizations is done via cooperative banks and district banks refinanced by MSCB.