PUNE: Months before the Mundhwa land deal in Pune snowballed into a political controversy involving deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar’s son, Parth, a Pune-based activist had raised a red flag – but it was ignored.
The whistleblower, Dinkar Kotkar, 60, had warned that 21 crore in stamp duty on the 300-crore transaction had been illegally waived. Despite a complaint and repeated alerts, no action was taken by the Inspector General of Registration (IGR) office, until the matter blew up this week.
Kotkar, founder-president of the Chhava Kamgar Union, has flagged irregularities in land and labour-related matters on several occasions. A resident of Hingane on the Sinhagad Road and a real estate broker, Kotkar had accessed some of the details of the Mundhwa deal. He was aware that the 40-acre plot had been bought by Amadea Enterprises LLP, in which Parth was a co-partner.
Kotkar wrote to the IGR on June 5, 2025, not long after the land deal was registered on May 20, 2025. His complaint related to the 21 crore in stamp duty that had been illegally waived when the sale deed was registered.
When he received no response, Kotkar sent a reminder on June 23, seeking cancellation of the sale deed and recovery of the exempted sum from the seller and purchaser. Again, he received no reply.
“They had taken note of my complaint all right because, not long after, some unidentified people approached me, warning me to ‘stay away’ from the matter, or else I would face consequences,” Kotkar told...
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