Maharashtra ex-deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal arrested in money laundering case
Enforcement Directorate claims the NCP leader received kickbacks for contracts to build the Maharashtra Sadan guest house in Delhi.
Chhagan Bhujbal, a senior Nationalist Congress Party leader and former deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, was on Monday night arrested in connection with multi-crore Maharashtra Sadan scam, according to Asian News International.
The arrest followed a day of questioning as Bhujbal had appeared before Enforcement Directorate officials in Mumbai as part of the agency's investigation into the role of the 68-year-old politician in a money-laundering case registered earlier this year.
The case pertains to the construction of the Maharashtra Sadan state guest house in Delhi during Bhujbal's tenure as the state's public works department minister from 2004 to September 2014. The contract for the building was given to a firm called Chamankar Builders without inviting tenders. The same company was also given contracts for building a Regional Transport Office and another government guest house in Mumbai.
According to the ED, Bhujbal, his son Pankaj and nephew Sameer have played a major role in scams, which have cost the state exchequer an estimated Rs 870 crore. The agency has claimed that the account books of some of the firms controlled by the Bhujbals reflect unexplained transactions that are likely to be kickbacks.
Sameer Bhujbal was arrested on February 1 in connection with the money laundering case while son Pankaj Bhujbal was questioned last month, after which his passport was seized.