New Delhi: A Defence Ministry probe has 'prima facie' found a 'criminal conspiracy' in the controversial Adarsh Housing Society project in Mumbai, where several former service chiefs, politicians and bureaucrats were allegedly given flats at throwaway prices.
The probe, ordered by Defence Minister A K Antony this week, has also 'not ruled out' collusion of some officers with the high rise promoters, sources said here today.
"In fact, prima facie there appears to be a criminal conspiracy (in the Adarsh Society controversy). But in all these things, we are not ruling out collusion of some (military) officers at the ground level (in letting the construction come up)," the sources said here.
The Defence Ministry, they said, is determined that all those guilty of wrongdoing in the episode are not spared and a decision on the matter will be taken within 10 days before Parliament's winter session begins on November nine.
Defence Ministry sources said there were some loose ends in the case such as the ownership of the land, apart from seeking and obtaining no-objection for construction of the high rise, though the Army had been in 'de facto' possession of the prime 6,490-sq mt plot of land in upscale Colaba for over 60 years before the 31-storey Adarsh Society highrise came up there in 2003.
The probe is also convinced that the building posed a major security concern, as spelt out by Western Naval Commander Vice Admiral Sanjeev Bhasin in his July 2010 letter seeking action against the building, the promoters and the officers involved in overlooking the construction itself since 2003. "On the question of security implications of the high rise building, certainly there is a problem over there...an issue of security in this building because it overlooks many military installations over there," the sources added.
The probe was ordered by the Defence Minister this week and the Ministry had sought reports on the controversy and its past background from the Army, Navy and the Defence Estates. While the Army and the Defence Estates Directorate submitted their reports, the Navy was yet to do so, sources said.
Former army chiefs Generals N C Vij and Deepak Kapoor, ex-Navy chief Admiral Madhavendra Singh, former Army Vice Chief Lt Gen Shantanu Chowdhary, former Union Minister and Shiv Sena MP Suresh Prabhu are among those who have been alloted flats in the building that came up with a promise to provide residential apartments to widows and dependents of 1999 Kargil war martyrs.