Mumbai: Holding that the prosecution failed to establish a “meeting of minds” or any specific overt act connecting state minister Chhagan Bhujbal to the alleged conspiracy of manipulating a public project to secure kickbacks from a private developer, a special court on Thursday discharged the 74-year-old NCP politician and three others in the 2015 Kalina land scam case.
In his 70-page order on Bhujbal’s discharge plea, the judge further said there is no material shown that the land or alleged property was entrusted to Bhujbal in his personal capacity or that he misappropriated or converted it for his own use. The court noted the project proposal was sanctioned during a committee meeting on Feb 25, 2010, following the (then) CM’s approval and a review of departmental reports, including remarks from the finance department and explanations from the public works department.
“The applicant’s (Bhujbal) position as PWD minister (then) explains his presence in the governmental process; it does not, by itself, establish his participation in a criminal conspiracy,” special judge Mahesh K Jadhav said. The material “reveals that the prosecution has not been able to demonstrate the necessary nexus between the applicant’s official acts and the alleged criminal object,” the judge said. The court said a minister may convene meetings, call for files, seek progress of a govt project, transfer a project from one office to another and participate in collective governmental decision-making. “Such acts become criminal only when the material demonstrates that they were performed pursuant to a dishonest or illegal design,” the judge said. The court noted the material did not show the “common criminal design” alleged by prosecution. “The committee’s collective decision, even if subsequently alleged to have been based on incorrect technical calculations, cannot automatically be converted into cheating by a minister who was one participant in the governmental process,” the judge said. The court refuted the arguments that subordinate engineers manipulated project calculations under the minister’s “invisible support”. “The prosecution’s mere assumption that this could not be done by the officers without “invisible support” of accused no 1 (Bhujbal) is not sufficient… The court has therefore examined whether the chargesheet contains any direction, communication, meeting, message, financial transaction or other material showing that applicant (Bhujbal) instructed the concerned officers to prepare the report in a particular manner or to manipulate the figures for the benefit of proposed developer. No such specific material has been pointed out,” the judge said. On sponsorship routed to the Chhagan Bhujbal Welfare Foundation, the court said prosecution had to establish a nexus between the official act and alleged pecuniary advantage.
This decision was taken collectively, with Bhujbal, also deputy CM then, participating as one member of a committee that included then CM Ashok Chavan and cabinet ministers Sunil Tatkare, Ajit Pawar, Rajendra Darda, Shivajirao Moghe, Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil and Jaydutt Kshirsagar, along with several senior bureaucrats. The court noted the foundation was registered, had charitable objects, received sponsorships through banking channels and had audited accounts.