Mumbai: A charge sheet will be filed within a month against former Maharashtra PWD minister Chhagan Bhujbal in a case of alleged kickbacks received in the award of contract of state central library in Kalina campus of Mumbai University, Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) told the Bombay High Court in Mumbai on Thursday.
In another case registered in Navi Mumbai in housing project "Hex World" scam, promoted by a realty firm owned by Bhujbal family, a charge sheet would be filed against Bhujbal's son Pankaj and nephew Samir in a special court, ACB counsel told a bench headed by Justice V M Kanade.
The High Court is hearing a PIL filed by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) seeking registration of FIR against Bhujbal, also an NCP leader, and his family for alleged misappropriation of funds and land grabbing.
ACB said that the magnitude in the case of Kalina land grabbing case is huge and it would therefore take some time to conduct the probe. Hence, ACB said, it needed a month's time to probe the matter and file charge sheet.
The land plot belongs to the Mumbai University and it is being developed by a private contractor, according to ACB. In the 'Hex World' scam, Rs 44 crore were allegedly collected from over 2000 persons for providing them houses. The project was promoted by a realty firm owned by Bhujbal family, ACB said.
The ACB had on Wednesday filed charge sheet against Chhagan Bhujbal, Pankaj, Sameer and 14 others in the Maharashtra Sadan scam case. ACB has alleged that the contractor had allegedly given kickbacks to a company in which Pankaj and Sameer are directors.
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The High Court had in December 2014 directed setting up a Special Investigation Team (SIT), comprising ACB and Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials, to probe into 11 different allegations of irregularities and money laundering by private companies run by Bhujbal, his sons and relatives.
The ED had earlier informed the court that it has registered two Economic Case Information Reports (ECIR) against Bhujbal under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), but it can go ahead with the probe and file FIR only after the ACB files its chargesheet.
The ACB had also told the court earlier that in three allegations against Bhujbal, the agency has not found any material that needs registration of FIR. 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 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. The FIR named him, Pankaj, Samir and 14 others. The new Maharashtra Sadan was built at the cost of Rs 100 crore when the Congress-NCP coalition was in power in Maharashtra.
