Ajit Pawar breaks silence on ex-IPS officer's allegations of Pune land handover

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has refuted claims made by former Pune police commissioner Meeran Borwankar. She alleged that in 2010 when he was the Pune district guardian minister, he had asked her to hand over three acres of land belonging to police as it had been auctioned to a builder.

Pawar firmly denied involvement, stating, “I did nothing about that plot of land.” “I did not attend any meeting to take decision on this (land plot in Yerwada in Pune),” the NCP leader said.

Pawar said he had not “directed” then home minister R R Patil to “do this or do that” while taking a decision on the plot of land.

Borwankar, former IPS officer, had said the builder was D B Realty’s Shahid Balwa who was later arrested in the 2G scam. She did not name Pawar in her memoir but has stated she opposed the handing over of the land.

In a press meet in New Delhi on Monday, she highlighted the “nexus” between builders and government. “I want to underline the tremendous builder-politician-bureaucrat-police nexus relating to sale of public land. Citizens should be alert,” she said.

In response, the Congress and Rohit Pawar, a member of Sharad Pawar's NCP, have called for a judicial probe into the matter.