ED attaches Bhujbal's sugar mill, land in Nashik

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday attached a sugar mill and 290 acres of land in Nashik worth Rs.55 crore in connection with the money laundering cases filed against NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal, his family and others, official sources said here.

The provisional attachment orders for the two properties -- Girna Sugar Mill and an adjacent plot in a prime area in Nashik -- owned by Bhujbals' firm Armstrong Infrastructure, has given an estimated value of around Rs.55 crores.

While the mill was bought over by the Bhujbal firm at an allegedly gross undervaluation of Rs.27 crore as part of an auction by the Debts Recovery Tribunal in 2010, it is suspsected that funds generated out of money laundering were used to to buy over these assets.

Earlier, the ED had attached movable and immovable assets linked with the Bhujbal family, including land and buildings in Mumbai worth around Rs.280 crore.

Bhujbal was arrested last week and is currently in judicial custody till March 31, while his nephew Samir Bhujbal was arrested in February and continues to be in judicial custody now.

The arrests followed two FIRs lodged against Bhujbal, son Pankaj, nephew Samir and others in connection with money-laundering cases and probing irregularities in the construction of the Maharashtra Sadan in New Delhi and Kalina land grabbing cases.