Maha Sadan case: ED may ask court to declare accused absconders

Enforcement directorate hopes to arrest the accused against whom non-bailable warrants have been issued soon

Mumbai: The enforcement directorate (ED) is likely to approach the court to declare Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Chhagan Bhujbal’s son, Pankaj, and 28 other accused in the Maharashtra Sadan case as proclaimed absconders if they fail to turn up soon.

Pankaj Bhujbal is one of the 29 accused in the Maharashtra Sadan case to be issued a non-bailable warrant.

The ED hopes to arrest the accused against whom non-bailable warrants have been issued soon. This comes after the Bombay high court on Thursday upheld the PMLA court order on issuing a non-bailable warrant against KS Chamatkar and two others, who had sought relief. Moreover, Sunil Naik, the CA who was arrested on Wednesday, is to be made an approver in the case. The accused include MP Sanjay Kakade and businessmen Vinod Goenka and Asif Balwa. “All the legal avenues are closing for them. We are thinking of asking the court to declare them proclaimed offenders,” said a source privy to the investigation.

ED teams fanned out multiple locations in the past few days since the warrants were issued. A search for Pankaj led the ED officials to even to the Mantralaya on Thursday. “We conducted several searches, but the accused have not been found. If the court declared the accused as proclaimed absconders, this will give us the power to attach their properties,” said the officer.