The Bombay High Court today allowed Maharashtra PWD minister Chhagan Bhujbal and his family to intervene in a petition filed by Sunil Karve, the founder trustee and vice chairman of the senior NCP leader's Mumbai Educational Trust (MET), alleging embezzlement of trust funds and property.
According to Karve, around Rs 177 crore has already been misappropriated by Bhujbal and his kin including his son and MLA Pankaj and nephew Sameer Bhujbal, an MP from Nashik.
A division bench of Justices P V Hardas and A R Joshi today allowed the Bhujbals to contest the allegations made against them in the petition saying, "There are averments made against the applicants (Bhujbals) hence they should be heard before passing any order".
Karve had initially sought direction to the city police's Economic Offences Wing to initiate inquiry against the Bhujbal family based on his complaint.
The EOW had, however, filed an affidavit last year saying that the dispute was internal among the trustees and hence the complaint has been forwarded to the charity commissioner's office. Following this Karve sought CBI probe.
The court had then admitted the petition and said it would hear the matter itself.
Bhujbal and his nephew Sameer Bhujbal filed an application in the court seeking permission to be heard before any order is passed.
According to Karve, Bhujbal and his family members "dishonestly" occupied the entire tenth floor of the Trust building in Bandra since 2005.
Karve's counsels further alleged that all evidences are being tampered with and hence an independent agency like CBI should be handed over the probe.
