Adarsh scam: CBI likely to file chargesheet against accused

Mumbai -  The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is likely to file itrs charge sheet against the 13 or 14 accused of playing a role in facilitating the Adarsh Housing Society scam that was  exposed 17 months ago either on Tuesday or Wednesday, reports said.

Among the accused are senior politicians, bureaucrats and army officers.

The Adarsh Society was originally meant to be a six-storey housing facility for Kargil war heroes and war widows. It was, however, converted into a 100-metre-tall building and apartments in it  were allocated to serving bureaucrats, senior army commanders and relatives of senior politicians.

The exposure of scam led to the resignation of then Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan.

The other accused Union ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh and Sushilkumar Shinde and at least five senior bureaucrats of the Maharashtra Government.

The chargesheet is likely to be filed before the Bombay High Court, which is hearing several public interest litigations seeking the court's intervention in the probe.

The CBI, on June 18, had assured the Bombay High Court that it would file a chargesheet in the case before July 4 as the agency had to take prior sanction from the government to prosecute

the bureaucrats.

"At least file the chargesheet. You (CBI) can procure sanction later for the bureaucrats," a division bench of Justices S A Bobade and Mridula Bhatkar had said on the last date of hearing.

The CBI has registered a case on January 29 last year against Chavan and 13 others.

The CBI had in March this year arrested nine out of the 14 accused. The nine arrested accused are - R C Thakur, secretary of Adarsh, retired brigadier M M Wanchoo, former Congress MLC

Kanhaiyalal Gidwani, both promoters of the society, former deputy secretary of urban development department P V Deshmukh, IAS officers Ramanand Tiwari and Jairaj Phatak, retired major

generals A R Kumar and T K Kaul and former city collector Pradeep Vyas.

They were released on bail by a special CBI court after CBI failed to file chargesheet within the stipulated 60-day period after arrest.They have been charged with criminal conspiracy,

cheating and the Prevention of Corruption.