Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai

Mumbai, Oct 26: NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) MLA Rohit Pawar on Saturday renewed his allegations against Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) minister Sanjay Shirsat, accusing him of playing a central role in a massive Rs 5,000-crore land scam in Navi Mumbai. Pawar shared official complaint letters from two forest officers seeking police action against members of the Biwalkar family and a few developers for forgery, cheating, and criminal conspiracy worth over Rs 1,400 crore.

The forest department’s internal probe reportedly found that the Biwalkars used forged documents to falsely claim ownership of land classified as a reserved forest area, and even received government compensation for it.

Back in August, Rohit Pawar had claimed that Shirsat, while serving as CIDCO chairman, illegally handed over 15 acres of prime land in Navi Mumbai to the Biwalkar family and received kickbacks in return. The proposal was cleared during the Eknath Shinde-led Mahayuti government.

On Saturday, Pawar posted on social media, “We are now sharing two letters from the forest department requesting police cases. This is enough proof for the government to act. If Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis wants to save the government’s credibility, he must dismiss Minister Sanjay Shirsat, the mastermind behind this Rs 5,000-crore scam.”

Pawar reiterated that despite submitting thousands of documents as evidence, the government has not initiated any action. “If the chief minister continues to protect the corrupt, I will not stop my fight until justice is done,” he said, adding that exposing the case could help save nearly Rs 6,500 crore of public money.

According to the forest department’s findings, Indirabai, Gangadhar, and Yashwant Biwalkar had already received Rs 1.56 crore in compensation for the same land. Yet, in February 2023, CIDCO allegedly allotted 61,749 sq. m. of land worth Rs 1,410 crore to the family despite internal objections and an admission that the Biwalkars had no ownership rights.

The dispute is linked to a 12.5% Project-Affected People (PAP) scheme, under which landowners whose land was acquired for development receive a portion of developed property. The Biwalkars claimed CIDCO had acquired 150 acres of their 5,000-acre estate spread across 15 Navi Mumbai villages — a claim now under scrutiny.

Rohit Pawar also alleged that the Biwalkars bypassed the Bombay Personal Inams Abolition Act, 1952, by falsely stating that the land was a personal gift from the British government, making them ineligible for the PAP benefit.

Minister Shirsat has rejected the allegations as “unfounded and baseless,” asserting that the CIDCO board had acted legally and that no final allotment letter or agreement had been issued yet.

However, in a recent statement hinting at political fatigue, Shirsat told reporters, “One must know when to stop. I’ve been in politics for many years. I don’t know whether I will always be in power.”

The controversy continues to stir political tensions within Maharashtra’s ruling alliance, with opposition leaders demanding a thorough investigation into the alleged multi-crore land scam.