File photo of former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a petition in the Bombay High Court to quash the Sessions Court's order on its decision to drop charges against former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan. The Sessions Court had rejected the CBI's application to drop the case against Mr Chavan after the Governor refused sanction to prosecute him.
The application was filed on Tuesday in the Bombay High Court and it will be heard on Thursday.
Mr Chavan, who was indicted by an inquiry panel that investigated the Adarsh scam in Mumbai in December last year, is the Congress candidate from Nanded and he filed his nomination for the Lok Sabha polls today. He had to resign as chief minister in 2010 after allegations against him surfaced in connection to the Adarsh Society scam.
The CBI had on January 15 filed an application to allow it to remove Mr Chavan's name from the list of 13 accused charge-sheeted in the case, citing the Governor's decision, which it said was "non-appealable".
But the court had said that even though Governor K Sankaranarayanan had rejected CBI's plea for sanction to prosecute Mr Chavan, he could be tried under the Prevention of Corruption act as he has been accused of criminal misconduct.
Speaking in his defence, Mr Chavan told NDTV today that all allegations against him in the Adarsh housing society scam are irrelevant. "My conscience is clear, I have done no wrong. I have not been convicted or barred from contesting elections," he said.
The Congress included Mr Chavan in its sixth list of candidates released last evening.
This morning, Congress president Sonia Gandhi defended her party's decision to field Mr Chavan in the Lok Sabha polls despite corruption charges against him.