On the petitioner's claim that police is not filing an FIR against him, Pawar said that the petitioner did not exhaust all legal remedies available to him before approaching the court
Ajit Pawar
Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar filed an affidavit in court in reply to PILs against him in the alleged Rs 70,000 crore irrigation scam, saying the petitioner does not have a locus to file such pleas and that he can't be using the court to settle personal grievances.
The affidavit was filed in Bombay High Court's Nagpur bench on Tuesday. Asserting his right to remain silent, Pawar denied all allegations, saying he is cooperating with the investigating agency but cannot be called upon to answer every allegation of the petitioner.
He also said that despite not being named in any FIR, the investigating agency has handed him questionnaires and the PIL was filed against him when there was another government in the state and he was a prominent leader of the opposition.
On the petitioner's claim that police is not filing an FIR against him, Pawar said that the petitioner did not exhaust all legal remedies available to him before approaching the court.
In addition, he mentioned an affidavit submitted on November 26, 2018, by the then ACB chief Sanjay Barve, who is now the commissioner of Mumbai police. Pawar said that Barve didn't have all the required information with him at that time.
Barve's affidavit had said, "It is observed that the minister in charge of the water resources department shoves the responsibility on to the officers. In the Gosikhurd and Jigaon projects, Ajit Pawar had signed an extension of tenders himself."
Last year, three affidavits were filed by the state Anti-Corruption Bureau — including one by its current chief Param Bir Singh, who is a top contender for the post of Mumbai police commissioner — giving a clean chit to Pawar.
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