Adarsh scam: Ashok Chavan an accused in CBI's FIR

Mumbai: The CBI has finally registered a case against 13 retired Army officials and bureaucrats of the Maharashtra government in connection with the Adarsh housing society scam. The case was registered after the CBI, last week, received flak from the Bombay High Court for its slow probe in the case.

Sources claim that former Maharashtra Chief Minsiter Ashok Chavan has been named as an accused in the FIR. It says as the then Revenue Minister, Chavan was among those responsible for the inclusion of civilians in the society. It also says he was instrumental in changing the development plan of the area. Three of his relatives  were also allotted flats in the housing society.

The CBI has named former defence estates officer, RC Thakur, chief promoter of Adarsh, Brigadier MM Wanchu, and former Congress MLC Kanhaiyalal Gidwani as the main conspirators. Wanchu is the society president and Gidwani the co promoter.

Three other defence officials have also been named - Major General (retired) A R Kumar, Brigadier (retired) Ramesh Chandra Sharma, then General Officer Commanding (GOC), Maharashtra and Goa, and Brigadier Pitamber Kishore Rampal, then deputy GOC.

The bureaucrats named in the FIR had all given clearances to Adarsh and later received flats in the building.

• Jairaj Phatak, as former Municipal Commissioner, had cleared an additional floor for the building
• Suspended Information Commissioner Ramanand Tiwari as former urban development secretary allotted land and building rights to Adarsh. His department also gave Adarsh its fraudulent green clearance
• Former Urban Development Deputy Secretary PV Deshmukh signed on the environmental clearance to Adarsh
• Former collectors Pradeep Vyas and IA Kundan approved flat allotments
• Ex-Human Rights Commissioner Subhash Lalla as secretary in the chief minister's office handled the files

Sources have also told NDTV that the Mumbai Crime Branch, that's investigating the case of the missing Adarsh files will seek permission from court to conduct brain mapping and lie detector tests on four Urban Development department officials. The files, which went missing from the Urban Development department, contain some crucial details of who gave the clearances for the controversial housing society and when.

The plush housing society, built on prime defence land was constructed in alleged violation of many rules. The building was originally meant to be a six-storey structure to house Kargil war heroes and their kin but was later extended to 31 floors without mandatory permission.