‘SEIZE CHHAGAN BHUJBAL’S BENAMI PROPERTIES’
Mumbai:activist Anjali Damania has requested the Union government to immediately seize all allegedly benami properties of NCP’S Chhagan Bhujbal, his son Pankaj and nephew Sameer under the newly-amended Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act.
The former Aam Aadmi Party leader on November 25 filed two complaints under the legislation’s ambit against the Bhujbal family and directors, who were allegedly holding benami assets for the family, and supposed hawala operators, who routed money into private limited companies.
The 1988 legislation was recently amended to increase the punishment to an imprisonment of up to seven years and strengthen it in legal and administrative procedure. The Act, the amended version of which came into effect on November 1, provides for confiscation of properties held benami without paying any compensation.
Damania said, “This is the first case registered under the amended Act, so we hope to see some action. The Centre should immediately seize all benami properties of the Bhujbal family to prevent creation of any further third-party interests and bring the assets into the government’s treasury. The Central and state governments have time and again made claims of punishing people for black money and corruption.
Damania has filed two complaints – one directly against Chhagan, Pankaj and Sameer Bhujbal, and twelve employees of the Mumbai Educational Trust and Armstrong group, who allegedly dummy directors, were acting for members of the Bhujbal family. The second complaint is against four persons who Damania said have admitted in their statements to the Enforcement Directorate to having arranged accommodation entries for Bhujbal family members against cash given by them.
NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said, “If she has filed a complaint then she should go and make noise before the PM and CM, not the press.” MUMBAI The inauguration season has kicked off firmly with an eye on civic polls.
While there is no clarity whether the two ruling allies – Shiv Sena and Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) -- will go to the polls as partners, the two are looking at inaugurating projects together.
After the BJP missed the ground-breaking ceremony of Colaba sewerage treatment plant (STP), the two seem to be making up for lost opportunities. They have decided to inaugurate a few more BMC projects next month, said sources.
The disaster control room and litigation system was inaugurated on Monday. The two are likely to be seen together again to inaugurate the Rs2,000-crore Gundavali-kapurbawadiBhandup complex water tunnel before the end of this week. An ambitious project of the civic body, which was under construction for more than five years, has finally been completed and was carried out as a replacement to the old-creaky British-era water pipelines.
Sources in the BJP said the Vihar treatment plant will also be inaugurated next month. Uddhav Thackeray, while speaking at the inauguration, said, “We will inaugurate many important projects as the BMC is doing good work.” A senior BJP leader said, “Senior members will decide whether the alliance will happen or not, but we will inaugurate these projects.”