Chhagan Bhujbal gets clean chit from police in MET case

The Mumbai Commissioner of Police told the Bombay High Court that no cognisable case could be made against Bhujbal

Four years after the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) granted a clean chit to NCP leader and former cabinet minister Chhagan Bhujbal and his family over alleged misappropriation of funds and property belonging to the Mumbai Educational Trust (MET), the Mumbai Commissioner of Police (CP), in compliance with a previous order, told the Bombay High Court that no cognisable case could be made against Bhujbal.

The Mumbai Commissioner of Police told the Bombay High Court that no cognisable case could be made against Bhujbal. (HT File Photo)

On October 13 this year, CP Datta Padsalgikar informed a bench of Justice Naresh Patil and Justice PD Naik that “on perusal of the case papers and relevant documents, it is seen that the allegations mentioned in the present petition have already been dealt with by the EOW and prima facie, it appears that allegations of the petitioner are civil in nature and come under the purview of the Charity Commissioner, Mumbai. Therefore, I endorse the previous view taken by the Economic Offence Wing, Mumbai in this matter.”

On September 27, the bench, while hearing a petition filed by Sunil Karve, former founder trustee of Bhujbal’s MET, had directed the CP to look into the opinion submitted by the EOW and the state Anti-Corruption Bureau into allegations of misappropriation of trust funds by Bhujbal and his family members.

Karve had filed a petition asking for an FIR to be lodged against the NCP leader and his family members, saying that they had misappropriated funds of the MET.

Earlier, both the EOW and ACB had submitted reports saying that it had not found any cognisable offence in the allegations levelled by Karve and that the jurisdiction for the matter lies with the Charity Commissioner.

HC is likely to take up the matter for further hearing on October 24 this year.

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