Mumbai Two former Mumbai Educational Trust (MET) employees and a chartered accountant, who were made approvers in the money laundering case against NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal, have approached the special MP–MLA court, urging them not to decide the discharge pleas filed by Bhujbal and other accused in the case till their evidence is recorded. They have contended that their evidence needs to be taken into account before deciding the discharge pleas.
The three, in their separate applications, have claimed that when the lawyers for Bhujbals – Chhagan Bhujbal, his son Pankaj and his nephew Sameer argued for discharge plea, did not consider the fact that the issue of recording of evidence of the approvers is still pending and the proceedings are stayed by the high court.
“Permitting the hearing and disposal of the discharge applications without considering the evidence which the Applicant is desirous of giving on oath, is bound to cause irreversible injury to the case of the prosecution,” the applications filed by the three accused-turned-approvers stated.
The three accused who were declared as approvers are Amit Balraj (software engineer), Sudhir Salaskar (electrician), Sunil Naik (chartered accountant). They were made approvers on August 5, 2017 and were granted conditional pardon by the special court. However, the order was challenged by the Bhujbals before the high court and the trial has been stayed since September 2017.
Salaskar was employed with MET from 1999 as an electrician and had quit in 2012. While Balraj, a software engineer, joined MET in July 2003 and quit in 2015. Both Salaskar and Balraj were allegedly made directors in various companies by the Bhujbals. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) which investigated the case had claimed that the Bhujbals had incorporated these companies for laundering ill-gotten money.
The agency had in June 2015 filed a prosecution complaint or charge sheet before the PMLA court against 53 accused. In its complaint running into more than 11000 pages, the agency alleged that from 2006 onwards, the Bhujbals and their associates laundered money to the tune of ₹4,264.25 crore. The complaint further alleged that Chhagan laundered money to the tune of ₹291.71 crore, while Sameer and Pankaj had laundered ₹359.30 crore each.
