Maharashtra, ACB silent about ‘clean chit’ to Chhagan Bhujbal

The state government and the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) are tight-lipped about a report submitted by deputy secretary Rajeev Gaikwad of the public works department (PWD) to the Special Investigation Team (SIT), which reportedly states that the PWD has given a ‘clean chit’ to former PWD minister Chhagan Bhujbal in the Maharashtra Sadan scam case which has allegedly cost crores of rupees to the taxpayers.

Mr Gaikwad is said to have sent the report without keeping his seniors PWD minister Chandrakant Patil and additional chief secretary Anand Kulkarni in the loop. The chief minister’s office did not respond when this newspaper tried to reach it for comment.

Further, Maharashtra ACB Vijay Kamble also refused to comment on the issue. A phone call and a text message to Mr Fadnavis also did not elicit a response.

On the orders of the high court, an SIT was formed last December to probe the alleged irregularities made by Nationalist Congress Party stalwart Bhujbal while awarding the contract of constructing the Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi, an RTO building in Andheri and High Mount guesthouse in Malabar Hill to a private firm when he was the PWD minister resulting in crores of losses to the state exchequer.

After the open inquiry by the SIT, an FIR was registered against Bhujbal and the firm Chamankar Enterprises. The FIR also detailed a money trail that showed how crores of money went to firms floated by Bhujbal and his relatives. The SIT was finally going to file the chargesheet after months of delay over an unknown reason.

It has now surfaced that Mr Gaikwad had a week ago submitted a report to the ACB stating there was no irregularity or violation of rules at any stage of awarding the contract. A newspaper report quoted Mr Fadnavis saying that the report submitted by Mr Gaikwad didn’t have signatures of Mr Kulkarni or Mr Patil.