(Photo credit: Wikipedia)MUMBAI: Seventeen months after it registered a FIR (first information report) in the Adarsh society scam, the CBIon Wednesday filed a chargesheet against 13 politicians, bureaucrats and retired military officers. The case involving the 31-storeyed tower in tony Colaba had led to a chief minister stepping down and seven high-profile personalities, including a former BMC chief and retired military officers, getting arrested. The charges filed were for criminal conspiracy, cheating and criminal misconduct under sections 120(B) and 420 of Indian Penal Code and section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The chargesheet runs into over 10,000 pages and was filed before the registrar of the sessions court. It names 12 of the 14 people named in the FIR, including former chief minister Ashok Chavan, former principal secretary (urban development) Ramanand Tiwari and former BMC chief Jairaj Phatak. Two names in the FIR that are not in the chargesheet are Lt Gen (Retd) P K Rampal and Brig (Retd) Romesh Chander Sharma.
Sources said no evidence of irregularity was found against them. The chargesheet includes a new name, that of Col (Retd) R K Bakshi, who CBI officials said misled the Pune-based Southern Command by saying that the prime Colaba plot had not been under Army occupation.
The CBI, Enforcement Directorate and Maharashtra's judicial commission began probes into the scam after a series of reports by TOI highlighting allegations that Adarsh was built on military land in Colaba and that civilians like politicians and bureaucrats had flats in a society meant for serving and retired defence personnel and their kin.
CBI counsels Ejaz Khan and Bharat Badami were present in court. The agency did not include the name of a former defence estates officer, M Guruswami, in the chargesheet as he died a few years ago. "Guruswami was the main boss of this scam, who along with (former defence estates officer) R C Thakur misled authorities that this was not defence land," a source told TOI.
CBI officials said Sharma and Rampal are not named in the chargesheet as they had no role to play in allotting the land. "They just followed their boss's orders and later got flats allotted in their favour,'' said a CBI official.
Though they have been named in the chargesheet, the CBI has to still get sanction to prosecute two serving bureaucrats—finance secretary Pradeep Vyas and Phatak. "We have sought sanction from the Department of Personnel and Training to prosecute these two bureaucrats and have submitted documentary evidence to back our case,'' said a senior CBI official. The court cannot take cognizance of the chargesheet until the sanction is granted.
Though investigations are still on, CBI officials said they have found no evidence against former chief minister Sushilkumar Shinde. In the case of another ex-CM, Vilasrao Deshmukh, CBI officials said investigations are still on.
CBI joint director Rishiraj Singh refused to comment on why only nine of the 14 accused in the FIR were arrested. According to a senior CBI official, "Custodial interrogation is required only when the person might not provide details otherwise. In case of Chavan, the CBI has clear-cut documentary evidence.''
Legal experts, however, said the CBI's argument falls flat as it could have used the same logic to not arrest the nine. Reacting to the chargesheet, advocate YP Singh, who is representing one of the petitioners against Adarsh, said, "As per law, a chargesheet means the investigation is complete, but here the CBI is saying it will continue to investigate further and file a supplementary chargesheet. Such a partial chargesheet can give the accused an undue advantage."
The CBI has examined 150 witnesses and attached 160 documents from various departments as proof. Apart from 22 pages of charge, the chargesheet includes a 38-page synopsis of the case. If convicted, the 13 accused could face a maximum sentence of seven years. They are R C Thakur, former sub-divisional superintendent, defence estate office, one of the main promoters of Adarsh; Brig (Retd) M M Wanchu, Adarsh office-bearer; former MLC Kanhaiyalal Gidwani; Maj Gen (Retd) A R Kumar, ex-GOC, MG&G; Maj Gen (Retd) T K Kaul, ex-GOC, MG&G; Brig (Retd) T K Sinha, ex-colonel, MG&G; former deputy secretary, urban development, PV Deshmukh; former principal secretary to CM, Subhash Lalla; former collector Pradeep Vyas; and Chavan, Tiwari, Phatak and Bakshi.
Earlier, the CBI received much flak after it failed to file the chargesheet within the stipulated 60 days, leading to the release of all nine arrested. On March 20 and 21, the CBI had arrested Kumar, Kaul, Wanchu, Vyas, Thakur, Deshmukh and Gidwani. Phatak and Tiwari were arrested on April 3 and were present in court on Wednesday to furnish surety with respect to their bail. Besides the duo, no other accused was present. Their copies will be furnished to them on a later date.
Edited By Cen Fox Post Team
