India, Nov. 10 -- Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Sunday shifted the blame for the alleged Mundhwa land scam squarely to the sub-registrar who registered the sale deed while staunchly defending his son Parth Pawar. Parth has been embroiled in a controversy regarding the purchase of government land for his company, Amadea Enterprises, for Rs.300 crore, a price far less than its reported market value of Rs.1,800 crore. Opposition leaders also pointed out that the 40-acre plot was Mahar Wattan land which could not be sold to a private party.

Amadea Enterprises, jointly owned by Parth and his cousin Digvijay Patil, executed the sale agreement on May 20 with Shital Tejwani, a Pune resident who is the power-of-attorney holder for 272 indiv...