Money Laundering: ED cracks down on Bhujbals, Sameer arrested in Mumbai

A team of 20 officers of the ED’s Mumbai zonal unit carried out the searches at the offices of some companies floated by Mr. Bhujbal, his son Pankaj and nephew Sameer.

Chhagan Bhujbal had left for the U.S. hours before the raids began, sources said.

The Enforcement Directorate, ED has arrested NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal’s nephew Sameer Bhujbal in connection with a money laundering case. The ED formed nine teams to raid nine Bhujbal premises simultaneously, starting around 9.30am on Monday.

The arrest followed raids on the properties of Chhagan Bhujbal, a former deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, and his family.

Meanwhile, the Bombay high court had granted extention to Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) to conduct an inquiry into the scam and submit the report to the court.

Pawar added that Chhagan Bhujbal’s decisions as PWD minister were that of the state Cabinet. Chavan has said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is pursuing political vendetta by misusing the CBI.

He will be produced in court on Tuesday, people familiar with the matter said. The raid continued till late into the night, monitored by joint director (ED) Satyabrata Kumar, who is looking into the probe against the Bhujbals. He ruled out vendetta politics, saying all cases being investigated were already made out during the Congress-NCP rule. They said he was not cooperating and hence his custodial interrogation was necessary. “This has been done to support BJP whose Member of Parliament (MP) Kirit Somaiya first makes a statement and then two days later, action (by ED) happens”, NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said. Samir Bhujbal was arrested after over six hours of questioning under the provision of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.