Overview
- The Mumbai special PMLA court on January 23 discharged Chhagan Bhujbal, his son Pankaj and nephew Sameer, among 46 applicants in the Enforcement Directorate’s case.
- Special Judge Satyanarayan R. Navander held that prosecution under the PMLA cannot proceed without a subsisting predicate offence or identifiable proceeds of crime, noting there was no generation of such proceeds.
- The ED’s case stemmed from 2015 ACB and Navi Mumbai EOW FIRs that followed a 2014 PIL, with allegations of kickbacks from K S Chamankar, cost escalations, and funds routed to companies linked to Bhujbal’s relatives.
- Activist Anjali Damania has written to the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court seeking suspension of the order, arguing that the pending Kalina central library FIR means the predicate offences are not extinguished.
- With the PMLA case effectively closed against those discharged, only the ACB prosecution linked to the Kalina library remains active, while Bhujbal’s earlier ACB discharges in related matters have attained finality; he spent over two years in custody before 2018 bail.