New Delhi [India], August 24 (ANI): The Appellate Tribunal under the SAFEMA has set aside the order confirming the attachment of properties belonging to Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) MLA Rohit Pawar and Baramati Agro Limited in a money laundering case, after noting that Pawar had already been discharged from the predicate offence as well as the proceedings under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
A bench headed by Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari passed the order on August 13 on appeals filed by Pawar and Baramati Agro against a July 29, 2024 order of the Adjudicating Authority which had confirmed the provisional attachment of the properties.
The tribunal recorded that the appellants had been discharged from the predicate offence and under the PMLA. It consequently found that there was no reason to continue the appeal against the attachment.
“I have considered the rival submissions and find that the appellant has already been discharged from the predicate offence and under the Act of 2002. Thus, there is no reason to keep this appeal pending. Rather, I cause interference in the impugned order”, the tribunal said.
The tribunal, however, made the relief conditional on any challenge that may be filed by the Enforcement Directorate against the discharge order.
“However, it would remain subject to final outcome of the appeal/revision, if preferred by the respondent against the discharge order”, it added.
The ED did not oppose the tribunal passing an appropriate order but submitted that it should remain subject to the outcome of any appeal or revision filed against Pawar’s discharge. The tribunal accepted the submission while interfering with the attachment order.
The proceedings before the tribunal arose from the ED’s money laundering investigation into the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) sugar mills case. The ED had registered an ECIR in 2019 after an FIR by the Mumbai Police Economic Offences Wing, which had followed directions of the Bombay High Court.
The allegations concerned loans sanctioned by MSCB to cooperative sugar factories between 2005 and 2010 and their subsequent sale at allegedly undervalued prices. The alleged loss to the bank was estimated between Rs 5,000 crore and Rs 25,000 crore.
In April this year, the ED had named Pawar, agro and sugar companies and firms linked to relatives of former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in chargesheets filed between 2023 and 2025. The agency alleged that the accused were involved in acquiring sugar mills at depressed valuations and relied on statements recorded under the PMLA during its investigation.
The case subsequently turned after the predicate offence was closed. A Mumbai court accepted the EOW’s closure reports on February 27, 2026, effectively bringing the underlying FIR to an end. Pawar and the other accused then sought discharge from the PMLA proceedings on the ground that there was no surviving predicate offence.
The special PMLA court accepted that contention in April and discharged Pawar and 16 others. The ED had opposed the plea, arguing that the PMLA case could still be examined on its merits and that Pawar was not named as an accused in the original EOW FIR. The court nevertheless discharged the accused after accepting the closure report in the predicate case.
Pawar and Baramati Agro Limited were represented by Gohil Agrawal Law Chambers LLP, with advocates Dixita Gohil, Pranjal Agarwal and Ankit Gupta appearing for the appellants before the SAFEMA Tribunal.
The tribunal has thus released the properties from the attachment order, while expressly preserving the ED’s right to challenge the discharge order. (ANI)
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