The tenure of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has begun on a positive note. Bringing big relief to the NCP chief, the Prevention of Benami Property Transactions Appellate Tribunal has dismissed charges of benami property ownership against him and his family. Following the tribunal’s verdict, the Income Tax Department has cleared his properties worth over Rs 1,000 crore in a benami case, seized during the 2021 investigation.

The tribunal’s ruling comes a day after Ajit Pawar took oath as Maharashtra Deputy CM along with Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde at Mumbai’s Azad Maidan, during the swearing-in of Devendra Fadnavis as Chief Minister.

The tribunal found no substantial evidence to support claims of benami ownership and concluded that all the payments for the ‘properties in question’ were made via legitimate channels and hence they were being cleared of the benami charges. “There is no evidence to suggest that Ajit Pawar or his family transferred funds to acquire benami properties,” the tribunal stated.

Advocate Prashant Patil, who represented NCP leader and his family in the benami case refuted all the charges and dismissed them as baseless and motivated. He is also understood to have shared details of transactions to prove that there was nothing illegal and everything was done via banking channels.

Notably, the I-T Department had carried out multiple raids in 2021 across several locations, some of which were linked to NCP leader Ajit Pawar. The crackdown included searches at the residence and office of those linked to Ajit Pawar, including his relatives and close aides in the city and adjoining towns.

Following the raids, a couple of properties including a sugar factory in Satara, a flat in Delhi and a resort in Goa were attached in the case. The I-T Department had attached properties valued at over Rs 1,000 crore under the Prohibition of Benami Properties Prevention Act (PBPP).