ED intensifies probe into Bhujbal cases

Close on the heels of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) raiding several properties of former deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday intensified its investigation by carrying out searches in several places in connection with the cases registered against the senior NCP leader. 

However, ED officials refused to divulge details of the investigation. The ACB and ED have registered FIR and Economic Case Information Report (ECIR), respectively, in connection with the Kalina land and Maharashtra Sadan scams. 

Last December, a division bench of the Bombay High Court had set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) consisting of ACB and ED personnel to probe 11 specific allegations against Bhujbal. 

NCP chief Sharad Pawar, however, has backed Bhujbal, saying he was being victimised. “I am also waiting to see when they (the government) put us in jail,” Pawar has said. 

Bhujbal, his son Pankaj, and nephew Sameer have come under the ACB’s lens for alleged irregularities in handing over the contracts for three projects to K S Chamankar— a developer close to them.

In the PWD scam, Bhujbal has been accused of handing out undue benefits to the tune of Rs 1,700 crore to the K S Chamankar Builders through transferable development rights (TDRs) worth thousands of crores to Chamankar, who was to construct three buildings, including the Maharashtra Sadan and the RTO Building, in Mumbai and hand them over free of cost to the government.