Enforcement Directorate arrests NCP's Chhagan Bhujbal for 'laundering’ money

Our Political Bureau | PTI

MUMBAI: Senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in Mumbai on Monday evening under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and Foreign Exchange Management Act (Fema) after he was questioned for close to 10 hours.

The ED had earlier registered a PMLA case involving the Bhujbals and some of their associates and had already arrested his nephew Samir last month. Samir is currently lodged in the high security Arthur Road Jail. The ED had also questioned Bhujbal’s son Pankaj in the same case last month.

The state anti-corruption bureau had filed a chargesheet against Chhagan Bhujbal, Pankaj, Sameer and 14 others in the Maharashtra Sadan scam case, even before his appearance. The Delhi-based new Maharashtra Sadan was built at the cost of Rs 100 crore when the Congress-NCP coalition was in power in Maharashtra. The agency had filed two FIRs against the Bhujbals and others under provisions of PMLA to probe the Sadan construction ‘scam’ and the Kalina ‘land grabbing’ case. It had also brought out orders for attachment of three properties worth over Rs 280 crore under laundering laws.