The road ahead doesn’t look smooth for Chhagan Bhujbal after ACB filed chargesheet against him.
Senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal is in deep trouble after the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau filed a chargesheet against him in connection with the Maharashtra Sadan scam. Bhujbal who had earlier claimed that nothing will happen to him as he has the support of NCP supremo Sharad Pawar finds himself isolated as no political leader came forward to defend him. Is it the end of the road for Bhujbal’s political career? Bhujbal was keen to revive his political career prior to the 2019 state election in the state. However the road ahead doesn’t look smooth for Bhujbal after the filing of chargesheet against him. Ever since the BJP government has come to power in the state, it has ordered for a probe into the various scams in which the Bhujbal’s family members name has cropped up.
BJP MP Kirit Somaiya had said that after Bhujbal, former Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and NCP state chief Sunil Tatkare are in the line of fire. He tweeted, “ACB filed 20000 pages ChargeSheet against #ChhaganBhujbal #SamirBhujbal #PankajBhujbal & 1 dozen others in #MaharashtraSadan PWD scam. I assure the people of Maharashtra all 3 Bhujbals will go to Jail followed by Sunil Tatkare and Ajit Pawar.”
AAP leader Anjali Damania said that Bhujbal must pay for his misdeeds. She said, “The FIR and subsequent chargesheet is full proof to ensure that Chhagan Bhujbal and his associates get penalised for their deeds. What is more important is that which has been looted in corruption should come back.”
Other than Bhujbal, who was Public Works Department minister in the previous Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra, his son Pankaj and nephew Sameer as well as 14 others have also been chargesheeted in the case. The voluminous chargesheet, which runs into 20,000 pages contains statements of 60 witnesses.
According to ACB sources, the case is entirely based on documentary evidence such as fund transfer and bank transactions.
Sources also claimed that in construction of Maharashtra Sadan, contractors have earned 80 percent profits while as per the government circular such contractors are entitled to only 20 percent gains.
“However, books of accounts have been fudged to show that the profit earned is only one percent,” they added.
The ACB had in June last year registered two FIRs against Bhujbal. The first one was related to alleged irregularities in allotment of a prime plot at Kalina in Mumbai to a developer.
The second case was for alleged rampant corruption and large-scale irregularities in the construction of the new Maharashtra Sadan, the state government’s guest house in New Delhi. The Public Works Department under Bhujbal had then allegedly awarded sub-contracts to firms, in blatant violation of rules, in the Maharashtra Sadan case.
