Chhagan Bhujbal's properties worth Rs 90 crore attached

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday attached 22 properties worth Rs 90 crore of former deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra and NCP leader, Chhagan Bhujbal, and his family members and their related companies, after it found Bhujbals' alleged involvement in various scams reportedly to the tune of Rs 840 crore, including the high-profile Maharashtra Sadan Scam in New Delhi. The fifth attachment from the central agency took the total figure of attached properties of Bhujbals to Rs 433 crore.

Chhagan Bhujbal

Former MP Bhujbal was arrested on March 14, for money laundering under Prevention of Money Launde-ring Act (PMLA). His nephew Sameer had also been arrested in the case. Both are presently lodged in the Arthur Road Jail.

A senior ED official said, "The fresh attachment includes various properties including a plush flat in a Dadar building, Sai Kunj, agricultural and non-agricultural land in Nashik, industrial plots and commercial properties in Nashik."

Apart from his Bhujbal winery in Nashik, a grapes plantation and agricultural lands in Nashik, an ED source said, adding, the estimated value of the attached properties is Rs 90 crore.

ED had filed two FIRs on June 17, 2015, under the PMLA against Bhujbal and his son and nephew for money laundering, based on Mumbai police's FIRs - to probe the Delhi-based Maharashtra Sadan construction scam and Kalina land grabbing case.

The agency in March this year, had filed a charge sheet against Bhujbal, Pankaj, Sameer and firms such as DB Realty, Balwa group, Neelkamal Realtors and Builders, Neelkamal Central Apartment LLP and Kakade Infrastructure. More properties are likely to be attached.