India, Nov. 8 -- Months before the Mundhwa land deal in Pune snowballed into a political controversy involving deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar's son, Parth, a Pune-based activist had raised a red flag - but it was ignored.

The whistleblower, Dinkar Kotkar, 60, had warned that Rs.21 crore in stamp duty on the Rs.300-crore transaction had been illegally waived. Despite a complaint and repeated alerts, no action was taken by the Inspector General of Registration (IGR) office, until the matter blew up this week.

Kotkar, founder-president of the Chhava Kamgar Union, has flagged irregularities in land and labour-related matters on several occasions. A resident of Hingane on the Sinhagad Road and a real estate broker, Kotkar had accessed some...