NCP minister Chhagan Bhujbal, his son and nephew discharged in PMLA case related to Maharashtra Sadan scam

A special court in Mumbai Friday discharged Maharashtra Cabinet minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Chhagan Bhujbal in the money laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for which he was arrested in 2016. Bhujbal had spent over two years in jail in this case till the Bombay High Court granted him bail in 2018.

Along with Bhujbal, his son Pankaj, nephew Sameer and other accused were also cleared of all charges under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Bhujbal’s lawyers, Sajal Yadav and Sudarshan Khawase, had filed a discharge plea submitting that since the NCP leader and others were discharged in 2021 in the corresponding case filed in connection with the alleged Maharashtra Sadan scam by the state Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), the ED case cannot continue as per a previous Supreme Court order.

The ACB filed a case against Bhujbal and others in 2015 after a Public Interest Litigation filed in the Bombay High Court sought an inquiry into alleged irregularities in awarding contracts worth over Rs 100 crore for three projects in 2006 when Bhujbal was the Maharashtra Public Works Department (PWD) minister. The contracts in question were given to Chamankar Developers for the construction of Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi, a new Regional Transport Office building in Andheri and a state guest house in Malabar Hill. A separate case alleging money laundering was then filed by the ED.

The agencies claimed that the contracts were given to the firm without following proper rules in return for kickbacks to firms and trusts controlled by the Bhujbal family.

The Bhujbals, however, argued that no evidence was found against them and they were discharged in 2021, so the case by the ED cannot continue. They also said that the ACB discharge order has attained finality as it was not set aside by the high court since 2021.

With this, only one ACB case remains pending against Bhujbal relating to a library in Mumbai University.

Sadaf Modak is a distinguished Legal Correspondent based in Mumbai whose work demonstr... Read More