Pawar added that Chhagan Bhujbal's decisions as PWD minister were that of the state Cabinet. He also asked the Bhujbal family to support the investigation agency and that they will provide all the details required.
A day after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested former MP Sameer Bhujbal, NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday defended Chhagan Bhujbal and accused the state government of misuse of power.
Sameer Bhujbal, nephew of NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday in a money laundering case in Mumbai, after the agency conducted multiple searches in connection with its probe against the Bhujbals and others.
Addressing the media for the first time since he was discharged from hospital, Pawar said, "The Bhujbal family is being targeted and the investigating agencies are being pressurised."
Stating that the person complaining in the case belongs to a political party, Pawar accused the state government of misusing power saying, "I have not seen such harassment before. It is a vindictive approach. The same family is raided again and again by the state agency and then national agency."
Pawar added that Chhagan Bhujbal's decisions as PWD minister were that of the state Cabinet. He also asked the Bhujbal family to support the investigation agency and that they will provide all the details required.
Meanwhile, reacting to Sameer's arrest, Chhagan Bhujbal said, "We are being harassed without any reason. The arrest has been made without any evidence."
Sameer Bhujbal will be produced in court on Tuesday. The agency's action came days after the Bombay High Court on January 28 sought progress reports from the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau and the ED in four weeks on their probe against Bhujbal and his family members.
The agency has filed two FIRs against the Bhujbals and others under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), based on earlier filed Mumbai police FIRs, to probe the Delhi-based Maharashtra Sadan construction scam and the Kalina land grabbing case.
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