Sharad Pawar Decides Not To Visit ED Office After Visit From Mumbai Police Commissioner

NCP supremo Sharad Pawar said he would not visit the Enforcement Directorate office in Mumbai after initially planning to be there at 2pm on Friday.

Earlier today, NCP said the ED had sent Pawar an e-mail saying there was “no need to come” and they would call him when required.

Pawar later spoke to reporters outside his residence and said he would refrain from visiting the ED office.

He told reporters that the Mumbai Commissioner of Police and Joint Police Commissioner had requested him not to go so that law and order situation could remain under control. Prohibitory orders had been imposed in the area on Friday.

While expressing willingness to co-operate with investigation in the ED case, Pawar said, “This is a deliberate attempt to malign the image of all the opposition leaders in the state.”

He said, “I have never been a decision-maker of MSC bank in my life and yet my name was there in the FIR... I am willing to cooperate in this matter.”

Surrounded by NCP workers, party leader Nawab Malik had earlier addressed reporters and said that the ED had no case against Pawar. Malik accused the agency of acting on BJP’s orders.

In a press conference on Wednesday, Pawar had said he would voluntarily appear before the ED after the agency filed a money laundering case  against him, his nephew Ajit Pawar and others in connection with the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank scam case.

The case just a month before state elections are due in Maharashtra.

“It’s a full toss and that too on the last ball of the match. We are going to hit it out of the stadium. Pawar sahab won’t mind even courting arrest on Friday. Now the entire election will be around Sharad Pawar,” a senior NCP leader told HuffPost India’s Pavan Dahat  earlier.