File criminal cases against those involved in embezzling crores of rupees in Pune land scam: Congress writes to Maha CM

Nagpur: Congress Legislature Party leader Vijay Wadettiwar has appealed to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis that a criminal case should be filed against all officials and beneficiaries involved in embezzling crores of rupees in the Pune land scam.

In a letter, he claimed that illegal transactions of government land worth crores of rupees in Pune Mundhwa were carried out with the connivance of selected private individuals and government officials, and this was a well-planned conspiracy to usurp government-owned land.

His letter comes amid a raging controversy involving the Deputy Chief Minister and NCP chief Ajit Pawar’s son Parth Pawar-linked Amedea Enterprises LLP in the land scam and the subsequent announcement of cancellation of sales deed.

“The serious aspects of this case are: On October 24, 1973, this land was leased to the Botanical Survey Department for 15 years at an annual rent of Rs 1. Later, the extension was granted until March 31, 2038. On December 30, 2024, Sheetal Tejwani deposited only Rs. 11,000 with interest as ‘land holding value’ in the District Collector’s office, despite there being no official government resolution, order from the Tehsildar or District Collector.

“The officials accepted this amount without following any legal procedure. The sale deed was registered on May 20, 2025. It contains no mention of proof of land ownership, consideration of market value, or stamp duty. Despite the availability of City Survey property records, the document was registered based only on old 7/12 extracts,” said Wadettiwar.

He stated that the Registration Officer and Tehsildar conspired to transfer government land to a private individual. On June 9, 2025, Tehsildar Suryakant Yewale, without conducting any investigation, issued orders to vacate the premises to Botanical Survey Department as per Amedia Company’s demand. A case has already been filed against this same official in the Bopodi matter.

“The Tehsildar took a favourable stance towards the beneficiaries to illegally take possession of government land. In violation of the 2021 government order regarding transfer of vatan lands, land holding value was illegally accepted without the government’s prior permission. Illegal document registration was done without obtaining an eligibility certificate, violating stamp duty and valuation rules, and granting concessions merely on Letter of Intent,” alleged Wadettiwar.

He further charged that beneficiary Sheetal Tejwani and Amedia Company attempted to usurp government land using false documents and wrong identification.

Wadettiwar said that in the government-appointed committee to investigate this matter, some officials are themselves involved in the previous illegal transactions. Therefore, the committee will not conduct a fair investigation and therefore it needs to be dissolved.

“This is not merely administrative malpractice but a planned misappropriation of government property worth crores of rupees. Therefore, all illegal transactions, orders and sale deeds in the Mundhwa case should be immediately cancelled,” he demanded.

Wadettiwar also wrote letters to Revenue Minister Bawankule and the Maharashtra Chief Secretary demanding that the corrupt officials in this case should be immediately suspended and departmental enquiry against them should be initiated.

The land on which malpractice occurred should be taken into government custody.

“An independent thorough investigation be conducted to determine what other government and private lands have been usurped by these same officials,” he said.

IANS