Sharad Pawar's NCP Youth Wing Stages Protests Outside ED Office

The Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) youth wing led by Mehboob Shaikh staged a protest outside the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) office on Wednesday. This protest was held against the registration of a money laundering case against the NCP Supremo Sharad Pawar and others allegedly involved in the MSCB Bank scam. The protestors shouted slogans against the ruling BJP and the government outside the ED office. Shaikh claimed that the protesting party members were baton-charged by the police and they were detained later. 

Mehboob Shaikh’s claims against the money laundering case 

NCP youth wing's state unit chief, Mehboob Shaikh claimed that, “The ED filed the case against Pawar given the huge response his campaign rallies have received. The ED is being used to stifle voices of the opposition leaders ahead of the election. Hence, we staged the protest outside the ED office to condemn the action.” The ED has filed a money laundering case against Sharad Pawar, his nephew Ajit Pawar and others in connection with the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) scam case. An Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), has been registered by the central agency under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. NCP from it's official Twitter handle tweeted a few pictures of their protests. In their tweets, they said that the charges against the party supremo Sharad Pawar are false. They also said that they were beaten by the police for holding the protest outside the ED's office.

Read: Sharad Pawar named in bank scam case by ED ahead of Maharashtra polls

Sharad Pawar's reaction 

Sharad Pawar reacting to the accusations against him said that he was not surprised. He, in fact, thanked the ED for naming him in the case. He said, “I thank the probe agencies because they have involved my name in a case relating to such a bank of which I am not even a member of, I was not involved in its decision-making. If they have filed a case against me too, I welcome it. I would have been surprised had such action not been taken against me after the kind of response I receive during my visits to various districts of the state."

Read: Sharad Pawar retorts to PM, says 'should have verified remark on Pak'

Sharad Pawar, who initially appeared clueless about his name figuring in the ED's case, said that he has not received any notice yet. The NCP dismissed it as a politically motivated case. "This is a politically motivated move, aimed at defaming opposition leaders ahead of the polls," NCP chief spokesperson Nawab Malik alleged. Another NCP leader, Dhananjay Munde, criticised the move and said that efforts were being made to bedevil Sharad Pawar given the 'huge' response he was receiving in the poll-bound state and the same had made the ruling BJP 'fidgety'.

(With PTI Inputs)

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