Court refuses to drop PMLA proceedings against Chhagan Bhujbal's son, nephew

In a significant development, a special court on Friday dismissed the request submitted by Pankaj Bhujbal, the son of Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal, and Sameer Bhujbal, the nephew, to have proceedings against them in a money laundering case dropped. The plea was denied on the grounds that there was no scheduled offense.

Special court judge R N Rokade, while rejecting their plea, said there is no such provision in the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) for dropping of proceedings. Pankaj, Sameer and 51 others were charged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in 2016 under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for various matters, including the alleged Maharashtra Sadan scam.

In September last year, Pankaj and Sameer Bhujbal had moved the plea, saying that in light of the Supreme Court guidelines, a case under the PMLA cannot continue if there is no scheduled offence. Citing this, they pleaded for dropping the proceedings against them in the money laundering case.

As per the PMLA provisions, a prior First Information Report (FIR) (scheduled offence) is a requisite for the ED to initiate action against a person involved with the process or activity.

The ED complaint against Pankaj, Sameer and others is based on an FIR registered by the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) in a case pertaining to Maharashtra Sadan scam and cheating case filed by local police in the construction of a proposed residential building in Navi Mumbai. They have been discharged in both the cases.