ACB to ask state to reacquire Rs 200 cr land

After Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) filed an FIR on Thursday against 17 persons, including Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Chhagan Bhujbal’s son Pankaj Bhujbal, nephew Sameer Bhujbal and retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Uttam Khobragade in an alleged land misuse case, a senior officer of ACB said that the agency will send a report to the state proposing to reacquire the land in north Mumbai which is worth Rs 200 crore. 

“The accused fraudulently acquired the land and constructed a commercial complex instead of a residential project it had been earmarked for,” said the officer. According to ACB officers, between 2002 and 2004, the Bhujbals,

Directors of Bhavesh Builders Private Ltd, bought the plot in Oshiwara in the northwestern suburb of Andheri and formed Oshiwara Tulsi cooperative housing society which was only on paper. They, however, developed Platinum Court, a commercial complex for personal gains.

The society’s members, including chief promoter Prashant Sawant, has also been booked. Co-accused Land Surveyor Shirish Shrugarpure, Assistant Land Surveyor Suryakant Deshmukh, and Mhada official Suresh Karande did not verify the documents.