Arrest of others, including ex-CM Ashok Chavan, imminent
After 18 months of the case being registered in the Adarsh housing scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday filed its first charge-sheet in the case which includes big names, one of them being former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan.
The chargesheet includes the name of R C Thakur (Accused 1), Brig.(Retd.) M M Wanchu (Accused -2), K L Gidwani (Accused -3), Maj. Gen. (Retd.) A R Kumar (Accused -4), Maj. Gen. (Retd.) T K Kaul (Accused -6), Brig. (Retd.) T K Sinha (Accused -7), P V Deshmukh (Accused -9), Ramanand Tiwari (Accused -10), Subhash Lalla (Accused -11), Dr. Pradeep Vyas (Accused -12), Ashok Shankarrao Chavan (Accused -13), Dr. M. Jairaj Phathak (Accused -14) and Col (Retd.) R.K. Bakshi.
Interestingly, the statements of union ministers and former chief ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh and Sushil Kumar Shinde, who are under the scanner in the Adarsh scam, have not been incorporated in the charge-sheet.
Chavan has been accused of granting some approvals to the housing society as a quid pro quo forallotment of two flats for his kin. Describing the inclusion of his name in the 10,000 chargesheet as unfortunate and unexpected, Chavan,who was forced to quit as Chief Minister in November 2010 after the scam surfaced, accused his political rivals of trying to implicate him.
Re-arrests soon: Y.P. Singh
Former IPS officer and lawyer, Y. P. Singh, who has been on the forefront of the fight against this scam, termed the CBI’s chargesheet as ‘discriminatory’.
“Themain accused in the case like Vilasrao Deskhmukh and Sushil Kumar Shinde have been spared. Even some senior officers who played a vital role in this scam are not named in the chargesheet. But we will fight it tooth and nail,” Singh told the ADC.
Singh said that since all the chargesheet is filed now, all the accusedwill be rearrested. Charges against Ashok Chavan In its chargesheet, CBI charged Chavan with approving additional Floor Space Index (FSI) for the housing society during his tenure as the Chief Minister and alleged that he gave these approvals as a quid pro quo for getting flats allotted for his motherin- law and brother-in-law.
CBI has also accused Chavan of illegally approving allotment of 40 percent of flats for civilians in the housing society, which was said to be meant for Kargil widows and war heroes, during his tenure as Revenue Minister in 2001- 03.He had dealtwith files pertaining to the ownership of land.
Brief of the allegations in the Chargesheet…
- The CBI informed the court that though the names of PradeepVyas and Jairaj Phatak have been included in the chargesheet, the agency was still awaiting their sanction for prosecution fromDepartment of Personnel. It has dropped two names among the 14 people against whom an FIR was filed in January 29 last year. They are retired Brigadiers PK Rampal and Romesh Chandra Sharma.
- However, the CBI included the name of retired Col R Bakshi who allegedly gave a letter certifying that the land did not belong to the Army. CBI also said in its chargesheet that benami transactions were still under investigations and the agency might file a supplementary chargesheet in the case. The CBI has cited 150 witnesses in the case.
- Thakur along withWanchoo conspired with the members of Defence services officers, officials and functionaries of Maharashtra Government with the intention to illegally get the land allotted in favour society inwhich theywere the members. The CBI alleged that records were manipulated and fabricated to get the land allotted in favour of the housing society in an illegal manner and also got various clearances fromtheMunicipal authorities and the state govt.
- Former Deputy General officer in Command Maj Gen Kumar allegedly abused his position and dishonestly and fraudulently issued a purported NOC to the collector Mumbai for the development of the plot.
- The CBI alleged that former Congress MLA Kaniyalal Gidwani joined the conspiracy with themotive to exercise his personal influence with the public servants in the state Government and offer them membership for showing favour to the society.
- CBI alleged that the enquiry showed that P V Deshmukh while working as Deputy Secretary in stateUrbanDevelopment Department, in conspiracy with Thakur and others of the society fraudulently communicated to the Chief Engineer Building Plan, Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) that NOC was granted by the Union ministry of Environment and Forest, though no such move was issued by the Ministry.
- The CBI charged former Principal Secretary to the state Chief Minister Subhash Lala with allegedly entered into a conspiracy with Ramamnand Tiwari and facilitated the transfer of Floor Square Area from the adjoining land to Adarsh. Two of the close relatives of Lala are having flats in Adarsh Society and Tiwari is also one of themembers.
- Pradeep Vyas, collector of Mumbai fromAugust 28, 2002 to May 16, 2005 is alleged to have in connivance with other accused persons of the society accepted false documents as proof of income and submitted their membership though ineligible. As a quid pro quo his wife was given membership in the society.
- IAS officer Jairaj Phatak, the then Municipal Commissioner, is accused of illegally regularising the additional floors of the society without referring it to High Rise committee which was headed by a retired High Court judge.