The Mukund Bhawan Trust

What’s the deal

• Government land worth crores in Pune allegedly transferred to Mukund Bhawan Trust controlled by NCP chief Pawar's relatives
• Land transfer done in 1988 by the then Collector of Pune Shreeniwas Patil, who became a NCP MP in 1999
• The Trust, having Pawar's daughter and son-in-law as office-bearers, is developing an IT park along with Balwa's firm

After scoring a major victory over the Union government, which conceded his demand to set up a joint committee for drafting the Jan Lokpal Bill, social activist Anna Hazare has trained his guns on Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar.
A team of activists, lawyers and other experts associated with Hazare's Bhrashtrachar Virodhi Abhiyan (BVA) are looking into a multi-crore rupee deal under which government land in Pune allegedly transferred to a trust controlled by Pawar's relatives has turned into an IT park.
Controversial developer Shahid Balwa, currently in jail for his role in the 2G scam, is building a hotel in a portion of the property.
RTI activists who have accessed information on the deal approached Hazare with documents while he was fasting in New Delhi and the social activists have asked his team to obtain more information on the deal, BVA sources confirmed.
The controversial deal concerns a piece of property near the historic Yerwada jail in Pune, which was at one time part of the Pune cantonment. The title of the 326-acre property has been in dispute since 1950 and in 1988, the then collector of Pune, Shreeniwas Patil, handed over its rights to the Mukund Bhawan Trust controlled by the relatives and associates of Pawar.
Patil went on to join politics and became a NCP MP in 1999 after defeating Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan from the Karad seat.
The Mukund Bhawan Trust, which had Pawar's daughter Surpriya and son-in-law Sadanand Sule as office-bearers, is developing an IT park and a five-star hotel in association with Balwa's DB Realty, according to information unearthed by the activists under the Right to Information Act.
The issue figured in the Maharashtra Assembly with Leader of the Opposition Eknath Khadse labelling it as a Rs 15,000-crore scam. Khadse demanded that Chief Minister Chavan order a CBI inquiry in the matter.