'Protecting Ajit Pawar's Son?': What the HC Told Pune Police on the Mundhwa Land Case
New Delhi: The Bombay high court a day ago questioned whether the police were protecting the son of Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar by investigating others involved in the case, but not him.
PTI has reported that a single bench of Justice Madhav Jamdar directed the question to the prosecution while hearing a pre-arrest bail plea filed by businesswoman Sheetal Tejwani. Tejwani is an accused in the case in which 40 acres of government land in Pune's Mundhwa area was sold for Rs 300 crore to a firm in which Ajit Pawar's son Parth is a majority partner. Opposition parties have alleged that the cost of the land, categorised as “Mahar watan” land, was much higher – closer to Rs 1,800 t0 Rs 2,000 crore. Parth's firm, Amadea Enterprises LLP, was also exempted from paying Rs 21 crore in stamp duty, reports said.
Moneylife reported on the case noting that documents show that Tejwani, acting as the power of attorney holder for 272 supposed landowners, executed the sale deed in May 2025. Within days, the tehsildar who is suspended now issued an eviction notice to the Botanical Survey of India, which held the land under lease, claiming Amadea Enterprises had legally acquired the land. Pune district collector Jitendra Dudi intervened, noting that the sale was illegal.
Among those indicted by a committee headed by the Joint Inspector General of Registration (IGR) were Tejwani, Parth's cousin and business partner Digvijay Patil and sub-registrar Ravindra Taru. The three are named in the FIR filed by Pimpri Chinchwad police. Tejwani was arrested early in December and will be in police custody till today (December 11).
Justice Jamdar said that Parth was not even named in the first information report. “Is the police protecting the son of the deputy chief minister and only investigating others?” he asked.
Public Prosecutor Mankunwar Deshmukh said the police investigating the case will take necessary action as per the law.
Tejwani’s counsel, Rajiv Chavan, and advocate Ajay Bhise, argued against a second FIR registered in her name at Bavdhan police station even as the first was being investigated by the Pune Economic Offences Wing.
The deputy chief minister has maintained that Parth did not know that the land belonged to the government. “The concerned land is government land, which cannot be sold. Parth and his partner, Digvijay Patil, were not aware of this fact. How the registration was done and who is responsible will come out in the probe,” reports quote Ajit Pawar as having said.
Analysts Sunil Gatade and Venkatesh Kesari wrote on The Wire that Parth is known to be close to his father. An NCP ticket for him in 2019 Lok Sabha elections from a constituency in the Pune district had been made a prestige issue by Ajit. Though Sharad Pawar was compelled to nominate Parth, he was defeated by the Shiv Sena candidate in what was seen to be a jolt to Ajit Pawar.
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