A special CBI court on Tuesday extended the judicial custody of seven accused in the Adarsh scam till April 30. The accused also include former Maharashtra IAS officers Ramanand Tiwari and Jairaj Pathak who applied for bail on Tuesday. The prosecution and the defence will have to submit their arguments on Wednesday, and the hearing on the bail applications will be held on April 19, on Thursday.
The other four accused, who also applied for bail, include suspended IAS officer Pradeep Vyas, retired Major Generals A.R. Kumar and T.K. Kaul, former deputy secretary in the urban development department P.V. Deshmukh. The accused had sought bail before the court on the grounds that the investigation has almost come to an end, and they should be granted bail on liberal grounds. However, retired Brigadier M.M.
Wanchoo and retired defence estates officer R.C. Thakur have not applied for bail. Adarsh society promoter, Congressman K.L. Gidwani is likely to file his bail application on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the defence lawyers argued that the two-member Adarsh judicial commission’s interim report has concluded that the land where the disputed building stands belongs to the state government and not the Army. The report was also tabled before the Assembly on Tuesday.
“Therefore, there is no controversy over the land as such,” said defence lawyer Satish Maneshinde.
Mr Maneshinde also requested the court to allow his client Gidwani home-cooked food under Sections 39 and 30 of the Prisons Act. “My client suffers from severe health problems and is also a diabetic. He just wants to fund his own food, and this will have no bearing on the trial,” he argued.