Mumbai:
A day after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed chargesheet in the Adarsh Housing scam, a top official of the investigating agency has been transferred. Rishi Raj Singh, who was the Joint Director of the CBI, has been moved to the economic offences wing of the agency.
Though the CBI maintains it's a routine transfer, the timing of the move is being questioned by many. According to the CBI, Mr Singh's transfer had been sanctioned earlier, and the agency was just waiting for the probe to be completed in the Adarsh case.
The CBI yesterday filed its 10,000-page chargesheet which named former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan among 13 people in the multi-crore Adarsh Housing Society scam. The chargesheet was filed before the Registrar of a sessions court, nearly 18 months after the investigating agency registered a case.
The CBI charged Mr Chavan with cheating and criminal conspiracy for recommending the allotment of 40 per cent of flats to civilians in what was supposed to be a society for defence personnel. The CBI said that three of Mr Chavan's relatives allegedly got flats in the society meant for Kargil War widows and Defence personnel. Later, Mr Chavan also granted building concessions by changing the area's development plan.
The former Maharashtra Chief Minister has said it is a "political conspiracy". Mr Chavan stepped down as Chief Minister in 2010.