Samir Bhujbal's judicial custody in ED cases extended

He has been arrested for alleged illegal transactions of more than Rs 800 crore

The special Prevention of Money Laundering Act court here today extended the judicial custody of NCP leader and former MP Samir Bhujbal till March 7.

Samir, nephew of NCP leader and former Maharashtra PWD minister Chhagan Bhujbal, has been arrested in the case registered by Enforcement Directorate over alleged illegal transactions of more than Rs 800 crore.

ED, in its remand application today, said Samir had promised to cooperate with the investigation and submit documents about funds received from Balwa group, DB Realty, Sanjay Kakade group, Universal Development Corporation and others.

He had also promised to give details of source of funds used for "Bandra, Santacruz and Kharghar projects". The investigation had shown that he was the mastermind behind remission of Rs 25 crore to Indonesia under the guise of investment in coal mines, it said.

"Though the accused has admitted to have made overseas investment, he has till date failed to submit the details of the bank accounts along with account statements and necessary agreements of foreign subsidiaries like Armstrong Global Holding, Armstrong Global Energy and Armstrong International Energy, all based in Singapore," the remand application said.

This was hampering the investigation, it said.

ED also said the investigation had led to "discovery" of criminal proceedings of more than Rs 25 crore." Proceeds of such transactions have been channelled to Parvesh Constructions in the guise of real estate investment," it said.

ED has registered two cases against the NCP leader. The first case pertains to Maharashtra Sadan scam and Kalina land allotment case while the second relates to a housing project at Navi Mumbai.