Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Friday issued a notice to Dr. TP Lahane, Dean, JJ hospital to file a reply within four weeks on the overstaying at the hospital by former Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal.
The Prevention of Money Laundering Act court had found him guilty of letting the senior NCP leader, who is implicated in a money laundering case by the Enforcement Directorate, to continue staying in the hospital when the court had ordered him to be sent back to jail.
Judge PR Bhavake has transferred the matter to the Bombay High Court for initiating contempt proceedings against Dr. Lahane. The same Judge had summoned Dr. Lahane in December last year after activist Anjali Damania moved court accusing the hospital and Arthur Road Jail authorities of negligence by allowing a fit 68-year-old to overstay at JJ Hospital.
A Division Bench of Justices Ranjit More and Anuja Prabhudessai issued a notice to Dr. Lahane asking him to file a reply within four weeks.
According to Dr. Lahane, Mr. Bhujbal was handed over to jail authorities on November 2, 2016 and he had no role to play in his overstaying. There was a violation of court orders in shifting Mr. Bhujbal from JJ Hospital to Bombay Hospital owing to poor health and for certain medical tests. However, he was given preferential treatment at the hospital for over 40 days, which led to contempt of court.
Mr. Bhujbal was arrested by the ED on March 14, 2016 in connection to cases of money laundering, siphoning of funds and causing a loss of ₹840 crore to the government exchequer. It is alleged that the Bhujbal family had accepted cash in lieu of awarding projects to contractors, then channelled such illegal cash into various companies controlled by them and integrated it into the business activities of group companies.
