Ajit Pawar was the water resource development minister between 1999 and 2009 (File)
Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar has been given a clean chit by the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in an alleged scam in awarding contracts involving 12 Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation projects. The contracts, which were awarded when Mr Pawar was the state water resource minister, were one of the main focus areas of the probe in the irrigation scam. The development comes weeks after Mr Pawar took oath as Devendra Fadnavis's deputy, but returned to his party after the days-old BJP government collapsed.
In an affidavit filed on Thursday in the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court, the ACB said there is no material evidence of wrongdoing against Mr Pawar.
The affidavit, filed by the agency's Director-General Param Bir Singh, also says that his predecessor, Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Barve's affidavit didn't have the benefit of material evidence and was based on inferences.
"A careful consideration of the entire material and record of the present case, which was then available, as on the day, on which the said affidavit dated November 26, 2018 was prepared and filed, revealed that the contents of the part A ( referring to probe in VIDC) of the said affidavit, spell out the conclusion drawn by the affiant of the affidavit, which are more particularly, in the nature of inferences drawn by him, on his interpretation of the material then before him," the affidavit read.
Reacting on the development, the Leader of Opposition, Devendra Fadnavis said: "This is a summary affidavit and while contradicting the 2018 affidavit (which was elaborative on how exactly things happened), does not provide any supporting evidence".
"Officials alone cannot be held responsible. We do not think that High Court will accept this affidavit and if required, we will intervene in the court too," he added.
Earlier this month, before the Shiv Sena-Congress-NCP alliance formed government in the state, the ACB had submitted in the Nagpur bench of the High Court an affidavit ruling out Mr Pawar's involvement in cases of alleged irregularities in approving and commissioning irrigation projects in Maharashtra.