Seven arrested accused in the Adarsh scam case secured bail from the special CBI court on Tuesday due to the CBI’s snail-paced investigations. The seven accused had sought bail on the grounds that the investigation agency had not filed a chargesheet against them even after the stipulated 60 days of arresting them.
The seven accused are Maj. Gen. (retd) A.R. Kumar, Maj. Gen. (retd) T.K. Kaul, retired defence estates officer R.C. Thakur, Brig. (retd) M.M. Wanchoo, former IAS officers P.V. Deshmukh and Pradeep Vyas and former Congress politician Kanhaiyalal Gidwani. The special court has directed them to furnish a surety of `5 lakh each and instructed them to report to the CBI office in Mumbai on Tuesdays and Thursdays every week.
All the seven accused have been charged with criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code, the Prevention of Corruption Act and Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act. They had sought bail contending that they were entitled to be released as the CBI had not filed a chargesheet within the stipulated 60 days.
The CBI had opposed the bail pleas on the grounds that the agency was planning to add charges of forgery and criminal breach of trust against the arrested public servants.
Interestingly, the CBI made the first arrests in the case only on March 21 after the Bombay high court came down heavily on the agency for its lacklustre investigation. In February this year, the HC had raised concern over the fact that the CBI was taking too long to complete its probe, which had begun in January 2011. The HC had directed the CBI to file a status report on its investigation.