Mumbai Scandal: IAS Officer's Wife Bharti Pawar at the Center of Rs 169 Crore Illegal Construction Scam

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached properties worth Rs 71 crore in connection with a major scam linked to illegal construction in the Vasai-Virar belt. This includes Rs 44 crore worth of properties belonging to IAS officer Anil Pawar, as reported by the Times of India. The investigation revolves around 41 unauthorized buildings, which the Bombay High Court had ordered demolished.

Central to the case is Bharti Pawar, wife of Anil Pawar, who has been named by the ED for allegedly fronting a portion of the scam worth Rs 169.6 crore. Alongside her, former deputy director of town planning Y S Reddy has also been arrested. According to the chargesheet, “WhatsApp chats between Y S Reddy and Anil Pawar establish that Reddy had purchased expensive sarees, gold-studded as well as other precious jewellery for Pawar’s family. Anil Pawar has also confirmed receipt of such items during investigation.”

The ED said Pawar, Reddy, and 16 others are implicated in a broader scam pegged at over Rs 300 crore. “Bharti Anil Pawar knowingly became the partner, director, shareholder, proprietor in companies and firms so that the cash amounts earned in crores of rupees (could) be routed back in the legal banking channel and could be shown as the legal income of Bharti Anil Pawar,” the agency stated.

The chargesheet also notes the involvement of Pawar’s two daughters and mother-in-law, suggesting that registering assets in female relatives’ names served to both conceal control and create documented trails of funds. Numerous investments were allegedly routed through family members or shell companies, including Shrutika Enterprises, Janardan Agro Services, Antonov Warehousing Parks Pvt Ltd, and M/s Dhwaja Warehouses Pvt Ltd.

Pawar’s nephew Janardan Pawar (34), described as a developer and real estate broker, was reportedly an “important handler of cash proceeds” collected during Anil Pawar’s tenure at the Vasai-Virar City Municipal Corporation. The ED said unaccounted cash of Rs 1.32 crore was seized from Janardan’s Nashik residence.

Investigators allege that bribe money was cycled through warehousing and land projects via Pawar’s daughters, Bharti’s cousin Amol Patil, and her brother Milind Pagar. While these relatives were not formally accused, they were involved in moving illicit funds.

“The illicit cash controlled by… Anil Pawar was systematically collected as well as many times, delivered to Narendra Jain, CA, through currency token method, generally adopted for delivery of cash. Then, the cash is delivered to various places and infused into various business entities,” the ED said.

The Antonov Warehousing Parks project and M/s Dhwaja Warehouses Pvt Ltd were cited as key vehicles for converting bribe cash into recorded equity and property. In Antonov, while Rs 1.3 crore was shown as cheque contributions by Bharti Pawar and her daughters, Rs 3.9 crore in cash was reportedly injected by Anil Pawar through Amol Patil, disguised later as consultancy receipts via Aadit Asset Holdings Pvt Ltd. M/s Dhwaja Warehouses Pvt Ltd followed a similar pattern, with contributions in the names of Pawar’s daughters masked as legitimate capital.

Cash was also allegedly routed through family-titled real estate deals. Bharti Pawar is said to have acquired an undervalued Alibaug property, paying Rs 45 lakh by cheque and the remaining Rs 3.3 crore in cash, coordinated by Reddy under Anil Pawar’s instructions. A 40-acre Ambivali land parcel was reportedly sold to Amol Patil, with proceeds credited to Bharti Pawar’s account. Flats and plots in Dadar and Pune were booked or resold under relatives’ names, including Pawar’s mother-in-law Kumudini Pagar and daughter Shrutika Pawar, giving the appearance of legitimate ownership.

The ED also highlighted alleged manipulation in small family-run businesses. Milind Pagar, Bharti’s brother, ran M/s Janardan Agro, where a token salary was drawn, but Pawar was shown earning Rs 20-25 lakh annually as a partner, allegedly to create a legal facade for illicit income flows.

Further, shell companies such as M/s BSR Realty, nominally managed by Bharti Pawar and her mother but operated by Janardan Pawar, were allegedly used to circulate illicit cash into formal business accounts. Large withdrawals were reported as partner shares to Bharti Pawar and her daughter Shrutika, masking the true origins of the funds.

The ED’s chargesheet paints a picture of a meticulously orchestrated scheme involving family members and close associates, designed to launder bribe money and convert it into visible wealth through legal channels.