Bhujbal appears before court in money laundering case

Maharashtra minister ChhaganBhujbal appeared before a court here on Thursday in connectionwith a money laundering case registered against him by theEnforcement Directorate.

As the case was assigned to a new court recently,special judge for cases under the Prevention of MoneyLaundering Act cases, S H Sathbhai, had sought appearance ofthe accused, a lawyer said.

The senior NCP leader is facing the case in connectionwith the contract for the construction of state guest house'Maharashtra Sadan' in Delhi and the Kalina land-grabbing casein Mumbai.

ED has alleged that Bhujbal awarded contracts to aprivate firm allegedly in return for kickbacks for himself andhis family. He and his nephew Sameer Bhujbal channeled theill-gotten money into shell companies, the agency has claimed.

Bhujbal was granted bail by the Bombay High Court in2018, almost two years after his arrest.