2G Scam Accused, Top Builders Named in FIR in Pune Land Scam Case - Panchshil Realty

2G Scam Accused, Top Builders Named in FIR in Pune Land Scam Case

Prominent builders and businessmen have been named in a First Information Report or FIR filed by the Pune police in a case relating to a massive land scam allegedly worth hundreds of crores of rupees. Among those named in the FIR are 2G spectrum allocation scandal accused Vinod Goenka and Shahid Balwa of DB Realty and builder Atul Chordia of the Panchshil Realty Group.

The 326-acre land at the heart of the dispute is located in the city's prime Yerawada area, near the Pune airport.  The Goenkas, who claimed the land was gifted to their family by Peshwa rulers in 1952, had fought a decades-long battle with the government over it. In 1989, they approached the then Chief Minister Sharad Pawar to settle the dispute.

Pune District Collector Shriniwas Patil subsequently granted the land, worth an estimated Rs. 300 crore in 1989, to Mukund Bhavan Trust. The Trust, run by the Goenkas, handed over developmental rights to Mr Chordia's company Panchshil Realty Group.

Incidentally, Mr Patil later opted for voluntary retirement and joined Mr Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party, or the NCP. He won the Lok Sabha election in 1999 and 2004 from Maharashtra's Karad and is currently serving as the Governor of Sikkim. Panchshil Tech Park, a company floated by Mr Chordiya, constructed towering high-rises on the disputed land. Ravi Barhate, a Right to Information activist, has since established via documents obtained under the Act that forged papers were used to grab the government land.

Some crucial documents including confidential letters exchanged between senior state government officials clearly show that the prime land was handed over to the trust after the state government drastically changed its stand on the issue in 1989.

In a confidential letter written to the then Pune Divisional Commissioner on January 1, 1992, Mr Navin Kumar, the then settlement commissioner and director, wrote, "The change of government stand needs to be investigated to find out who had taken the decision to grant 326 acres of land to the trust".

NCP chief Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule and her husband Sadanand Sule also had stakes in Panchshil Tech Park. After Mr Balwa and Mr Goenka's name cropped up in connection to the 2G Scam, they had surrendered their share and exited the company.

In April 2011, Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra assembly Eknath Khadse had demanded a thorough probe into questionable land deals in Maharashtra. In the wake of his demand, the state director general of police had asked for a detailed report on the status of investigations and complaints into major land scams.

The police have refused to comment on the case. Reacting to the FIR, DB Realty today issued a statement, claiming, "Any complaint against the company or Mr Vinod Goenka or Mr Shahid Balwa alleging their involvement in the holding of the land by Mukund Bhavan Trust is unsustainable in fact and in law".

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