“They were produced in the court and were granted bail on a surety of Rs 50,000 each,” special public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat said. The court had on June 15 issued a production warrant against the two accused. The case is being probed by the state ACB. However, the Bhujbal duo will not be walking out of jail as they are at present in judicial custody in a money laundering case registered against them by the Enforcement Directorate.
Gharat said that the court allowed the exemption application filed by the lawyers of Bhujbal’s son Pankaj.“I had prayed to the court to issue a non-bailable warrant against Pankaj but his lawyers pleaded for exemption. However, the court has directed him to be present on the next date,” he said. The case is likely to come up for hearing on July 22.
The ACB, in February this year, had chargesheeted 17 people including the Bhujbals in connection with the case.It had filed a 20,000-page charge sheet consisting of statements of over 60 witnesses.
According to the anti-graft agency, the case was entirely based on documentary evidence, such as fund transfer and bank transactions.
In the construction of Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi, contractors had ‘earned 80 per cent profit’, while as per the government circular such contractors were entitled to ‘only 20 per cent gain’, ACB officials alleged. They said that the books of accounts were "fudged" to show that the profit earned was only one per cent.
Officials had said that for construction of Maharashtra Sadan, Chamankar Associates, the contractor firm, had allegedly transferred money to Niche Infrastructure and other companies in which Pankaj and Sameer were the directors.