2G scam: Sharad Pawar's DB link reinforced via Eon-Panchshil

[sandesh]

2G scam: Sharad Pawar's DB link reinforced via Eon-Panchshil
DNA
Abhay Vaidya
Friday, May 6, 2011 3:00 IST

 

Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar's connection with Eon Aviation
Private Limited - the firm owned by 2G scam accused Shahid Balwa's DB Realty
group - is not limited to travelling with Balwa in an Eon plane.

 

Following Balwa's arrest by the CBI in the 2G spectrum allocation scam in
February, Eknath Khadse, leader of opposition in the Maharashtra assembly,
had drawn attention to a February 2010 Eon Aviation flight to Dubai in which
Pawar, his wife Pratibha and four others had travelled along with Balwa and
his partner Vinod Goenka. The NCP had defended Pawar by denying that he knew
Balwa or had any association with him.

 

Investigations by *DNA* have revealed a deeper connection between Eon
Aviation and the Pune-based Panchshil Realty group, in which Pawar's
daughter Supriya Sule and son-in-law Sadanand hold minority stakes.

 

Documents show that Panchshil Realty's promoter Atul Chordia has a close
business relationship with Shahid Balwa's DB Realty. As reported by DNA
earlier, the Chordias are close family friends of Sharad Pawar. In barely 15
years, they have created a massive real estate empire through their
Panchshil Realty group in Pune.

 

The links between the Panchshil Realty group and Eon Aviation are strong as
DB Realty's February 5, 2010, prospectus for its public offer listed
Panchshil's promoter Atul Chordia and his brother Sagar with 5,000 shares
each in Eon Aviation.The same document also listed Atul and Sagar Chordia as
directors of Eon Aviation, as of December 2009.

 

The Pune-based EON Hadapsar Infrastructure Private Limited, of which Atul
Chordia is a director, holds 9.90lakh shares (7.07%) in Eon Aviation Private
Ltd, said the IPO prospectus.

 

The presence of Eon Aviation's office in the Panchshil Tech Park One
premises in Pune clearly points to a business association between Supriya
Sule's firm and the DB Realty group firm.

 

BD&P Hotels (India) Pvt Ltd held the majority stakes in Eon Aviation
(92.85%) with 13 million shares. BD&P Hotels (India) Pvt Ltd, in turn, held
majority stakes from DB Hospitality Pvt Ltd and issued 4,000 preference
shares to Balwa.

 

Also, Eon Aviation's former CEO Anil Ummat has said in his LinkedIn profile
that during 2008-10 he was the CEO as well as a senior vice president at
Panchshil Realty. A company representative told DNA that Ummat left
Panchshil Realty "three months ago".

 

During and after the* DNA* investigations into the Panchshil Realty and DB
Realty properties on Survey No 191 (A), (Pawar's DB link in Pune, *DNA*,
April 15, 2011), Panchshil's promoter Atul Chordia asserted on two occasions
that he had no links with DB Realty or Shahid Balwa.

 

He even emphasised that the Panchshil Park Tech One IT complex, which has
investments from Supriya and Sadanand Sule, had nothing to do with DB Realty
with whom Panchshil shares the controversial Survey No 191 (A) at Yerawada.

 

But *DNA* investigations now prove that Chordia, whose firm has investments
from the Sharad Pawar family, has a history of a close business relationship
with Balwa's DB Realty.