The Satara district administration on Saturday demolished the illegal construction at MPG Club in Mahabaleshwar's Malkam Peth area, which is owned by realtor Vishal Agarwal, the father of the 17-year-old who allegedly mowed down two IT professionals with his speeding Porsche, apparently under the influence of alcohol, in Pune's Kalyani Nagar on May 19. At the time of reporting, the district administration has razed 15 illegally constructed rooms in the club.
The district administration had last week sealed the club after Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde ordered Satara collector Jitendra Dudi to bulldoze the MPG club if its construction was found to be illegal, as alleged by RTI activist Abhaysingh Havaldar. Havaldar had alleged that the land was leased to the Parsi Gymkhana Club for residential purposes, but it was being used for commercial purposes.
According to the activist, "The property had a hall built in 1930 designated as a heritage 1 property. It has been altered by building another floor." "Trees over ten acres of land were razed to construct the resort with a swimming pool, conference hall, bar, party lawn, and spa," he added.
After these accusations surfaced, CM Shinde directed the Satara collector to verify them and bulldoze the property if they were found to be true.
The excise department had earlier sealed the bar of the club after finding violations of various provisions of the Mumbai Foreign Liquor Rules, 1953, and Metrology Rules and Liquor Licence Rules. The excise team found that terms and conditions of the foreign liquor 3 licence had been violated, apart from model code of conduct violations during the Lok Sabha elections.
Reacting to the action against illegal construction at the club, Kasba Peth MLA Ravindra Dhangekar took to X (formerly Twitter) and wrote, "Today, the administration is taking action after the matter came to light, which means that the administration was silent for so long despite knowing all this. Many cases of Agarwal's illegal businesses, cases of murder, fraud, extortion are coming out. Such criminals should not be supported by the administration and strict action should be taken against them."
Meanwhile, the minor's grandfather is in judicial custody for allegedly kidnapping the family's driver to force him to take the blame for the Porsche crash, while his father and mother are in jail for their alleged involvement in swapping the blood samples collected to test alcohol consumption as part of the probe.
