Ajit Pawar rubbishes claim by ex-IPS officer that he asked her to hand over police land

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.

Mumbai: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Tuesday rubbished former Pune police commissioner Meeran Borwankar’s claim that as Pune district guardian minister in 2010, he had asked her to hand over three acres of land belonging to police as it had been auctioned to a builder.

“I did nothing about that plot of land,” Pawar told reporters.

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“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.

Congress and Rohit Pawar of Sharad Pawar’s NCP have demanded a judicial probe into the matter.