Two days after booking him over allotment of a Kalina plot to a builder for construction of a library , the Anti-Corruption Bureau on Thursday lodged another criminal case against exPWD minister Chhagan Bhujbal for his alleged involvement in the New Delhi Maharashtra Sadan scam.Along with Bhujbal, his son Pankaj and nephew Samir have been named among the 17 accused in the case.
Bhujbal has been booked under Section 13 (1¬C and D) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and various sections of the IPC for misusing his official position for personal gains by corrupt means for pecuniary advantage and for cheating and forgery.
In the wake of a PIL filed by AAP activist Anjali Damania, the Bombay high court had asked the ACB to form a special investigation team to probe charges against Bhujbal and his family members. Anjali Damania's contention was that the contract for construction of the Maharashtra Sadan was awarded to Chamankar Enterprises without following the due process of law and in lieu, the firms and trusts controlled by Bhujbal and his family members had received huge kickbacks. The ACB found that after the contract was granted to Chamankar Enterprises, a huge amount of money was transferred from the partners of Chamankar Associates to firms directly or indirectly controlled either by Bhujbal or his family members. In addition, the contract for supply of furniture to the Maharashtra Sadan was granted to a firm owned by members of the Bhujbal family . More than Rs 15 crore was paid to Parvesh Constructions, Bawesh Developers and Armstrong Energy , all firms owned or controlled by Samir and Pankaj Bhujbal, the probe has revealed.
The ACB has estimated a loss of Rs 2,867 crore to the state exchequer, while the public accounts committee, which too probed the scam, estimated the loss to be in the region of Rs 5,000 crore to Rs 6,000 crore.
The ACB probe has also confirmed that Chamankar Enterprises was awarded the contract for construction of Maharashtra Sadan without inviting tenders. In fact, the finance, housing and urban development department had strongly opposed the proposal, saying it was bad in law. Chamankar Enterprises had submitted a proposal for rehabilitation of slum dwellers on two Andheri plots belonging to the revenue de partment. Chamankar had proposed that while he would provide free houses to the slum dwellers, in lieu, he should be given the vacant Andheri plots and he would construct, free of cost, the Maharashtra Sadan, the Andheri RTO building, the High Mount guest housein South Mumbai and any other construction admeasuring 14,000 sq metres as proposed by the state . The project cost proposed by him was worth Rs 82 crore.
The finance department had strongly objected to the proposal, saying it was wrong to give the contract to an “isolated“ developer. It had also said that he would gain huge profit in terms of the additional FSI and TDR he would receive. But Bhujbal succeeded in securing approval for the project from the high-level infrastructure committee headed by the then CM on May 5, 2006.
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