A special court here on Thursday acquitted Maharashtra minister and senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal and seven others, including his son and nephew, in the Maharashtra Sadan scam case. Belonging to the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), his son Pankaj, nephew Sameer and five others were acquitted in the 2015 case.
He had sought discharge in the case related to alleged corruption and involvement of a private firm in the construction of a new Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi, claiming that there was no evidence to prosecute him and the court allowed his applications. was given. Bhujbal was represented by a lawyer. Prasad Dhakefalkar, with advocates Sajal Yadav and Sudarshan Khawase.
He submitted that all the allegations against him were false and based on wrong calculations, assumptions and conjectures. Despite running into thousands of pages and a huge chargesheet filed in 2016, there was not enough evidence to proceed with the trial, he argued.
The lawyers argued, “He (Chagan Bhujbal) had no role in the selection of the developer. Nor did he have any role in the selection of the quantum of benefits to be given to the developer.” He said the NCP leader got illegal bribes.
The ACB, in a reply filed through Special Public Prosecutor Azar Misar, had opposed the discharge plea stating that Bhujbal and his family members had received bribes from a construction firm, KS Chamankar Enterprises. Special Judge HS Sathbai gave the permission after hearing both the sides. Argument for the acquittal of the accused. However, the detailed order is yet to be received.
The case pertains to a deal from 2005-2006 that the NCP leader had allegedly given to the firm, when he was the PWD minister. According to the ACB, the contractors had “earned 80 per cent profit” in the construction of Maharashtra Sadan (state). guest house) in Delhi, while as per the government circular, such contractors were entitled to “only 20 per cent profit”.
On July 31, the court had acquitted four other accused in the case. It had then said that there was neither any illegality nor any direct or circumstantial evidence to show that some illegal means were adopted in awarding the contract for the construction of Maharashtra Sadan. The ACB has claimed that the original cost estimate for Maharashtra Sadan was Rs 13.5 crore, but it was later increased to Rs 50 crore.
The state agency has alleged that Bhujbal received Rs 13.5 crore in bribes from the firm, which made a profit of around Rs 190 crore from the construction of Maharashtra Sadan and other PWD works. It was “frauded” to show that the profit earned was only 1 percent.
The probe agency has claimed that KS Chamankar Enterprises had transferred money to Ala Infrastructure and other companies for the construction of Maharashtra Sadan, in which the minister’s son Pankaj and nephew Sameer Bhujbal were directors. The ACB has claimed that the names and funds of the employees were used for misappropriation.
Chhagan Bhujbal is currently the Minister of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection in the Shiv Sena-led MVA government.
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