Senior Nationalist Congress Party leader Chhagan Bhujbal had originally received a clean chit in the Maharashtra Sadan construction case, documents accessed by The Hindu have revealed.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) had found no merit in the charges levelled against Mr. Bhujbal in a 2012 complaint filed by Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Kirit Somaiya and Devendra Fadnavis, who is now the Chief Minister.
But the same ACB subsequently changed its stance on identical allegations pursued by Mr. Somaiya in the form of complaints and court cases, enabling a first information report to be filed in June 2015 against Mr. Bhujbal, former Public Works Department Minister.
Mr. Bhujbal is on bail after spending 25 months in prison in the matter.
The original discreet enquiry in the Maharashtra Sadan case, which finds only one mention in subsequent court orders and government affidavits, was drafted by Ajit Sawant, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police in the ACB, and submitted on July 19, 2013.
What the report said
The enquiry, which The Hindu accessed under the Right to Information Act, had examined the appointment of a developer in a slum redevelopment scheme in Andheri (West) and alleged irregularities in the government handing over other construction works to him, including Maharashtra Sadan in New Delhi.
Mr Sawant’s report was accepted by his superiors, including the Director General (ACB). “Even though the entire process is extraordinary, prima facie, it does not show any irregularity. The enquiry till now does not show that any crime has been committed, which can be booked under the anti-corruption laws in the entire process of handing over the development work to the developer,” the report had concluded.
The Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure, which took the decision, was well within its right to do so, and the developer was given permanently wasted floor space index on the testing track that was to be built for the Andheri Regional Transport Office, so no loss was caused to the State government, the report said. “Earlier, the developer was asked to do government work of ₹45 crore, but the government has ensured that he does work of up to ₹100 crore,” it said.
The ACB report also said allegations of money laundering and transactions within companies cannot be investigated under the ambit of a discreet enquiry. In May 2013, the ACB asked the Economic Offence Wing to look into these allegations.
This report was, however, referred to only once, in an affidavit in a public interest litigation filed by the Aam Aadmi Party on September 3, 2014. The affidavit was filed by the State Home Department.
In December 2014, the State government gave permission for an open inquiry in this case, citing certain aspects that remained unanswered.
Chain of events
The Bombay High Court, in its order on April 29, 2015, cited the observation of the Deputy Director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) dated February 27, 2015. It said the ED can investigate a suspected offence of money laundering only after the ACB registers a case. The High Court also mentioned the two reports submitted by the agencies in February and April that year, and directed them to submit the final report in the Maharashtra Sadan case before June 15.
On May 13, Sanjay Barve, Additional DG (ACB) wrote to Pravin Pardeshi, Principal Secretary, Chief Minister’s Office, highlighting the HC’s observations. On June 3, Mr. Pardeshi replied saying court orders have been shown to the CM, and he has directed that all necessary action be taken “so that the law is followed in letter and spirit.”
The draft of the FIR mentions the valuation and profit to the accused as calculated by the ACB-appointed valuer and architect Shirish Sukhatme. The document was prepared by the ACB’s Assistant Commissioner of Police Narendra Talegaonkar on June 4, 2015.
Mr. Sukhatme’s report was only submitted to the government on June 9, 2015, as per an earlier report in The Hindu (‘Did govt. valuer rubber-stamp ACB figures?’, March 2, 2017).
Official communication between Mr. Sukhatme and the ACB shows that he was approached only on April 22, 2015, when a letter from Mr. Talegaonkar asked for his consent to prepare a valuation report. Mr. Sukhatme’s consent was received on May 12. As per the report, Mr. Sukhatme visited the site on May 30, sale instances were downloaded from the government site on June 8, and his report was submitted the next day.
Based on this, an FIR was registered on June 11, 2015 against Mr. Bhujbal and 16 others by the ACB for allegedly causing financial losses to the State government by misusing their power, presenting faulty status reports to clear projects and transferring money through benami companies.
Neither Mr. Fadnavis nor his office replied to a request for comment in the matter.