Former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and PWD Minister Chhagan Bhujbal was arrested on Monday after nine hours of interrogation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with Maharashtra Sadan corruption scam cases lodged against him.
Beleagured Former Maharashtra PWD minister and Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal appeared before the Enforcement Directorate in Mumbai for questioning on Monday.
The ED had summoned Bhujbal on March 8 following a complaint by Bharatiya Janata Party MP Kirit Somaiya in connection with cases lodged under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and Foreign Exchange Management Act pertaining to alleged irregularities in the construction of a new ‘Maharashtra Sadan’ in New Delhi, worth several hundred crores of rupees.
A large number of party workers who had gathered outside the ED office raised slogans even as prohibitory orders were put in place to avoid any untoward incident.
The agency is expected to record his statement in the case under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The ED had registered a PMLA case involving Bhujbal, his son pankaj, nephew Samir and some of their associates and has already arrested the ex-minister’s nephew Samir.
The ED had on February 1 arrested Bhujbal’s nephew Sameer Bhujbal. Later last month, it questioned Bhujbal’s son Pankaj Bhujbal, a legislator.
Bhujbal and his party, the NCP, have termed the ED’s actions a “political vendetta”.
The ED’s probe follows a Bombay high court ruling in January when it sought progress reports from the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau and the ED within four weeks on their investigations against the Bhujbals.
Following Somaiya’s complaints, the ED had lodged two first information reports (FIRs) against the Bhujbals and others under the PMLA to probe the Maharashtra Sadan scam in New Delhi and the Kalina land grabbing scam in Mumbai.
