Mumbai, November 25: The Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Monday closed nine cases related to the alleged multi-crore irrigation scam. Interestingly, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was named in the irrigation scam. The closure of nine cases related to the irrigation scam comes 48 hours after Ajit Pawar supported the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and took oath as Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Ajit Pawar Remains Firm on His Stand of Supporting BJP, Calls Sharad Pawar His 'Leader'.

"We are investigating around 3000 tenders in irrigation related complaints. These are routine inquiries which are closed and all ongoing investigations are continuing as they were earlier," ACB DG Parambir Singh told news agency ANI. "None of the cases that were closed today is related to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar," he added. Maharashtra: NCP Chief Sharad Pawar Says He Is Not Behind Ajit Pawar’s Revolt.

The irrigation scam, pegged at around Rs 70,000 crore, relates to alleged corruption and irregularities in approval and execution of various irrigation projects in Maharashtra during the Congress-NCP rule.

Ajit Pawar was among the NCP ministers who were in-charge of the irrigation department at different times between 1999 and 2014 during the Congress-NCP coalition rule in Maharashtra. On November 23, Ajit Pawar along with 10-11 NCP MLAs went to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to take oath as the Deputy Chief Minister. Devendra Fadnavis was also sworn in as Chief Minister.

Following the surprise oath ceremony, the NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena were left stunned, as the three parties were in the final round of talks to finalise their alliance in the state to form a government. NCP chief Sharad Pawar clarified that Ajit Pawar acted in his own capacity. NCP also removed Ajit Pawar as Legislature Party Leader.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 25, 2019 04:02 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).