MUMBAI, Dec. 11 -- Social activist Anjali Damania on Wednesday alleged that deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar had been eyeing the controversial, 40-acre land parcel in Mundhwa, near Koregaon Park in Pune, since 2018. As part of a plan to secure the land parcel, she alleged, NCP leader Nilesh Magar, then deputy mayor of Pune, had secured power of attorney (PoA) from the original owners of the land, to block any transaction pertaining to the plot as Pawar was not part of the ruling dispensation at the time. It was no coincidence that the land deal was eventually registered in May this year, soon after Pawar, whose NCP is now part of the Mahayuti alliance government, was appointed guardian minister of Pune, Damania claimed. Magar has denied all the allegations. A sale deed for the land was signed in May, with Amadea Enterprises Pvt Ltd, a company co-owned by Ajit Pawar's son, Parth. Valued at over Rs.300 crore, the plot was Mahar Watan property, a hereditary land grant under the erstwhile colonial administration, and is now government-owned. The registration of the sale deed was signed by Sheetal Tejwani, who held power of attorney for 272 individuals, still shown as land owners in some records. It has since transpired that the sale allegedly violated ownership restrictions on government land and that stamp duty was illegally waived. Tejwani was arrested in the case on Tuesday but Parth has not been named in the FIR. "This is a case of one land parcel for which two parties claimed to have power of attorney, which makes this a legal dispute. One power of attorney was with Tejwani, which she possessed since 2006, and another with Magar from 2018," Damania told the media on Wednesday. "Moreover," she added, "the names of owners listed in the power of attorney possessed by Magar were different from those in the power of attorney with Tejwani." Damania said that documents show that Magar secured PoA from 15 individuals related to the Damdhere family, whereas Tejwani secured PoA from 272 individuals related to the Gaikwad family....