Pune: The court of additional sessions judge DP Ragit on Thursday reserved its order on the bail applications of power-of-attorney holder Sheetal Tejwani and suspended sub registrar Ravindra B Taru in the case of illegal stamp duty waiver in the registration of a sale deed related to the 40 acre govt land parcel at Mundhwa.The govt’s case is that the sale deed between Tejwani, who holds the PoA on behalf of the 272 watandars (original holders) of the land that was taken over by the govt after the Mahar Watan system was abolished, and Amadea Enterprises LLP, was registered by giving a waiver of 7% stamp duty i.e. Rs21 crore against the consideration of Rs300 crore. Thus causing loss of revenue to the govt. Late deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar’s son, Parth, is one of the two partners in Amadea Enterprises although Parth has not been named in the FIR registered by the Bavdhan police but Amadea’s another partner, Digvijay Patil, has been named in the case. As of now, Tejwani and Taru are in jail under judicial custody while police have recorded Patil’s statement. Tejwani’s lawyer Dipali Kedar Kushendra submitted that the sale deed was scrutinised, accepted and registered by the competent authority in accordance with the law and the statutory obligation to pay stamp duty lay with the purchaser and not the (bail) applicant, who acted only as a lawful PoA-holder. She submitted that the state has issued a demand notice, for the alleged stamp duty insufficiency, to the purchaser, Amadea Enterprises, and adjudication proceedings. were pending before the stamp authorities. Taru’s lawyer Sangramsinh Desai, submitted that his client was falsely implicated and there was delay in the registration of FIR, raising serious concerns about possible manipulation and concoction. Desai said there was no prima facie case against his client and no material on record to show that he derived any wrongful gain from the alleged offence. If any error occurred in the calculation of stamp duty or exemption, the same would amount to an inadvertent mistake and not a criminal offence, he argued. District govt pleader Pramod Bombatkar while opposing the pleas, said Taru had refused on April 24, 2025, to register the deal, citing lack of necessary permissions from the competent authority and missing stamp duty. He even gave a letter to one of the watandars but on May 20, 2025, he completed the registration by giving the stamp duty waiver. “In the system, Taru showed the land as movable property. The land belongs to Mumbai Sarkaar, but still the registration was done without the signature of a competent authority,” Bombatkar said. The state has also opposed Tejwani’s bail plea.
