NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal comes out of ED office to be produced before Special PMLA Court in Mumbai Sessions Court, on Thursday. Bhujbal was sent to judicial custody till March 21. (Photo: Shripad Naik)
NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal comes out of ED office to be produced before Special PMLA Court in Mumbai Sessions Court, on Thursday. Bhujbal was sent to judicial custody till March 21. (Photo: Shripad Naik)
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday requested seven days of custody of Chhagan Bhujbal as two days of his custody have not helped them get required information. However, Special Court of ED rejected ED’s application on grounds that they needed to give independent evidence, which they did not. At the same time, the court extended Samir Bhujbal’s custody till March 21.
ED officials requested seven days’ custody of Chhagan Bhujbal on grounds that owing to his poor health, they could not interrogate him properly. They stated that since morning of March 16, Bhujbal kept complaining that his chest was paining. In the afternoon, doctors of St. George Hospital came for his check-up and told ED officials that he was absolutely fine. Soon after, ED officials approached him for questioning but the latter said he was mentally exhausted and needed to sleep. Again in the evening, he complained of chest pain when doctors from J.J. Hospital were called for check-up. That whole day, ED officials could neither interrogate Bhujbal nor confront him about the witnesses’ statements.
When the judge asked Bhujbal to speak up, the latter was almost crying when he said, “I was always ready to cooperate with ED officials and I called them so many times but they did not take my statement on the first day. On March 15, ED officials came to me for interrogation at 11.30 pm when I told them politely that I am a 69-year-old and need adequate sleep but would wake up early in the morning and meet them at 7.30 am on March 16. However, none of the officials came at the appointed time. At 10.30 am, one of the officials came but did not interrogate me. I was feeling fine but then too, officials called the doctors and in the night, I seriously fell ill. I told them several times that I don’t know about any transaction but then too, they are harassing me. I went to MET once in a blue moon, which is whenever I needed to catch a flight early in the morning.”
The court denied remanding Bhujbal to further ED custody on grounds that the agency had failed to collect independent evidence against the accused. There is no question of any confrontation of the accused with statements of witnesses, the court said.
According to ED officials, statements of two individuals who are closely connected with MET and know about Bhujbal’s business activities were recorded under Section 50 of the PMLA Act, 2002. These individuals had confirmed that Samir Bhujbal paid huge cash to market operators at MET office to convert it into cheque payment. At that time, Samir Bhujbal was not engaged in any business or activity so it was clear that he had received all this money from his uncle, Chhagan Bhujbal, who was minister at that time.
