MUMBAI, Nov. 8 -- A day after the Pune land controversy linked to his son shook the political establishment, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar appeared to have recovered his composure. In damage-control mode on Friday, Pawar, who is also NCP chief, said the controversial land deal in Mundhwa, Pune, had been cancelled. "The land deal has been cancelled. Not a single rupee has been paid as part of the deal, yet some people quoted big figures," said Pawar. "From the information now available, it is clear that this was only an agreement to buy land. No payment has been made by Parth (Pawar's son), his company Amadea, or by any member of my family to the seller, and the land has not been taken into possession. Therefore, the transaction has not been completed," Pawar added, in a statement released to the media on Friday. The deputy chief minister also addressed the media after concluding a review meeting of district and city units of the NCP in Worli. He sought to clarify allegations that Amadea Enterprises, in which his son Parth is a co-partner, had bought government-owned land in violation of the rules. Moreover, the government had allegedly waived Rs.21 crore in stamp duty on the Rs.300-crore deal, also in violation of the rules. Pawar admitted that the land in question was owned by the government and cannot be sold. "In 2006, the land was bought by some people. I have been told that Parth's company and associate, Digvijay Patil, were not aware of this," he claimed, defending his son. Distancing himself from any wrongdoing, Pawar remarked, "As I said earlier, I want to again make it clear that I was not aware of the land deal. I like to follow rules and regulations. I have faced allegations in the past as well but nothing could be proved. A white paper was also issued explaining everything in this regard." He was referring to the Rs.70,000-crore irrigation scam in which he was accused when he was deputy chief minister in 2012. On Friday, Pawar visited Varsha, the official residence of the chief minister, twice. On the first occasion, he attended the felicitation programme of the Indian women cricketers after their spectacular victory in the ICC Women's World Cup 2025. It is not clear whether he also met chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on that occasion. In the evening, Pawar returned to Varsha for a 15-minutes meeting with Fadnavis. He was accompanied by senior NCP leaders such as working president Praful Patel and state party president Sunil Tatkare. In his interaction with the media, Pawar said an FIR had been filed at two different police stations with regard to the Mundhwa land deal. "Who was involved in the cheating, who was at fault, who pressured the official? All this will come out in the police probe," he said, replying to a question. Asked why Parth's name was missing from the FIR, he responded, saying, "The revenue minister informed me that the person who had signed the transaction documents had been booked by the police." He was referring to Parth's co-partner in Amadea, Digvijay Patil. Fadnavis has set up a committee headed by the additional chief secretary in the state revenue department, Vikas Kharge, to investigate the Mundhwa land deal. Meanwhile, NCP insiders revealed that Fadnavis expressed unhappiness over the controversy. During the meeting with Pawar, he asked the NCP leadership to defuse the crisis before it spun out of control. Soon after that, the decision to cancel the land deal was taken and an application was filed with the department of registration and stamps. Both parties between whom the deal took place filed an application, which was rejected by the department as they have been asked to pay the cancellation fees along with a fine which may go up to Rs.42 crore, insiders said. "An investigation will be conducted into the irregularities and action will be taken against those responsible," Fadnavis underlined....