Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on Wednesday expressed surprise over the CBI filing a chargesheet against his predecessor Ashok Chavan in the Adarsh Housing Society scam. However, for the Opposition, the surprise was the fact that the CBI closed the investigation and filed a chargesheet without indicting two other ex-CMs and a few other bigwigs.
The CM refrained from commenting on the nitty-gritty of the case, but confirmed the stand taken by the home department that the state government had never asked for any CBI inquiry. But, he indicated that the Central government also had the power to hand over an investigation to the CBI.
“As far as the land is concerned, we have the judicial commission’s report before us. The Central Bureau of Investigation is also investigating the case separately. It will submit in the court what it has to say. We cannot comment on the CBI investigation,” Mr Chavan said.
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CBI awaits nod to prosecute 2 accused
age correspondent
Mumbai, July 4
Giving details about the 10,000-page chargesheet filed in the multi-crore Adarsh society scam case on Wednesday, CBI sources said that even though names of society member Pradeep Vyas and IAS officer Jairaj Phatak have been included in the chargesheet, the agency was still awaiting the sanction for their prosecution from the department of personnel. All the accused have been charged with criminal conspiracy, cheating and under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Statements of former chief ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh and Sushilkumar Shinde have not been incorporated in the chargesheet.