Special Correspondent
Pune : A criminal case has been registered against Deepak Mankar, city president of the Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar faction), for allegedly submitting forged documents and misleading the police during an investigation.
The controversy began after Pune Police arrested Shantanu Kukde, the state vice president of NCP’s Minority Cell, in connection with a rape case following complaints from several women. During the investigation, police scrutinized Kukde’s bank accounts and discovered financial transactions worth ₹1 crore between him and Deepak Mankar.
When summoned for questioning, Mankar denied having any financial dealings with Kukde and submitted certain documents to support his claim. However, a forensic verification revealed these documents to be forged. Subsequently, a case was filed against Mankar for attempting to mislead police using fake documents.
The investigation had earlier uncovered a high-profile case involving foreign women and large sums of money. Shantanu Kukde was found to have received more than ₹100 crore in his bank accounts, with ₹40–50 crore allegedly transferred to various individuals. One major transaction revealed ₹1.75 crore being transferred from the account of Raunak Jain, Kukde’s close associate and a chartered accountant, to the bank accounts of Mankar and his son.
Despite the findings, Deepak Mankar has denied all allegations. He stated that the funds transferred from Raunak Jain’s account were part of a legal land transaction, supported by an official agreement, and insisted he had no connection with Kukde’s personal or financial matters.
Police also disclosed that Kukde had been a director in a Chennai-based company, and after resigning from the position, he received shares, which he later sold. Kukde claims the funds in his account came from the sale of these shares. However, a significant volume of ₹40–50 crore was moved to over 10 different accounts.
Police have now sought the involvement of the Income Tax Department and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and confirmed that a forensic audit of Kukde’s accounts will be carried out to trace the flow of funds and possible financial irregularities.
