In a major development, the Bombay High Court has dropped charges against the two prime accused in the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) Maharashtra Sadan scam case. The case, dating back to 2005, had also named senior NCP leader and Maharashtra Minister Chhagan Bhujbal and his family.

The alleged scam originated when the then Congress-NCP government awarded a contract to build the new Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi to K.S. Chamankar Enterprises, owned by Krishna and Prasanna Chamankar. The deal, given without inviting tenders, came under scrutiny since Bhujbal, as Public Works Department Minister, oversaw the project.

Cases were later registered after the BJP-Shiv Sena government came to power, when Bhujbal’s party was in opposition. In 2021, both Bhujbal and the Chamankar brothers were discharged by a trial court.

Seeking relief, the Chamankars approached the Bombay High Court to set aside the ED’s 2016 chargesheet under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Appearing for ED, counsel Manisha Jagtap argued that PMLA proceedings could run independently, even if the original predicate offence was quashed, citing Supreme Court rulings. However, the Chamankars’ counsel Shreeyash Lalit countered that since the trial court’s 2021 discharge order had attained finality, the PMLA case could not stand.

The bench of Justices A.S. Gadkari and Rajesh S. Patil agreed with the defense, ruling: “If the person is finally discharged/acquitted of the scheduled offence or the criminal case against him is quashed by the court of competent jurisdiction, there can be no offence of money laundering against him.”