The Enforcement Directorate (ED) recently moved the principal judge of a sessions court in Mumbai seeking to transfer two cases registered against former deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal from a court handling anti-corruption cases to one handling Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) cases. The ED contended that the cases are similar and should thus be tried in one court. The judge has directed the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to file a reply on the ED’s application within a month.

Special public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat, appearing on behalf of the ACB, said: “We would file our reply on the next date of hearing and inform the court about our stand.” He added: “We do not wish to give details of that reply to anybody else before disclosing it to the court.”

Last year, the ED had registered two cases under the PMLA against Bhujbal, suspecting illegal transactions to the tune of Rs 900 crore. The first case registered by the ED pertains to the Maharashtra Sadan scam and Kalina land allotment case, while the second relates to a housing project at Navi Mumbai, wherein the developer had allegedly collected 10 per cent of the flat’s total cost as booking amount in 2010 but not started any work.