Chhagan Bhujbal case: Enforcement Directorate trying to trace Rs 870 crore of transactions

MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate has told a sessions court here that the agency was trying to trace Rs 870 crore of transactions allegedly involving companies controlled by the son and nephew of former Maharashtra deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal. In the court, the ED said it has so far managed to trace transactions of about Rs 114 crore, but a source at the agency said it has details about Rs 200 crore involving shell companies.

A substantial amount of the money has allegedly been siphoned off to Indonesia and Singapore and this has affected the pace of the probe, the source said. The ED has also claimed to have found some direct transactions between companies and entities linked to Bhujbal’s family after they got contract from the PWD department when he was heading it.

ED investigations have allegedly found that the companies floated by the Bhujbals were dubious and were not involved in any business activity. Yet contractors and developers bought the shares of the companies at huge premiums, it said. According to the ED source, current and former employees of Bhujbal’s Mumbai Education Trust (MET) have given statements detailing some dubious transactions.