Ashok Chavan named in CBI Chargesheet in Adarsh Scam

Mumbai. The CBI today charged former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan and 12 others in a multi crore Adarsh Co-operative Housing Society scandal.
The CBI chargesheet came 17 months after it began probing the case in which politicians, bureaucrats and former defence officials are accused of building the 31-storey apartment complex on a disputed plot in a South Mumbai area in violation of state and Central laws.
Describing as unfortunate and unexpected the 10,000-page chargesheet in connection with alleged irregularities in the scam, Chavan, who was forced to quit as chief minister in November 2010 after the scam surfaced, accused his political rivals of trying to implicate him.

“This (chargesheet) is unfortunate and unexpected. The Adarsh housing is only an administrative matter. However, there is a conspiracy by my rivals to malign me. The Adarsh issue has been blown out of proportion,” he said.

CBI had registered a case in the scam in the housing society in Colaba on January 29 last year under IPC sections, including criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery and showing forged documents as genuine, besides sections pertaining to the Prevention of Corruption Act.

In its chargesheet, CBI charged Chavan with approving additional Floor Space Index (FSI) for the housing society during his tenure as the chief minister and alleged he gave these approvals as a quid pro quo for getting flats allotted for his mother-in-law and brother-in-law.

CBI also accused Chavan of illegally approving allotment of 40% of flats for civilians in the housing society, which was said to be meant for Kargil widows and war heroes, during his tenure as revenue minister in 2001-03. He had dealt with files pertaining to the ownership of land.

CBI informed the high court that it was going to file a chargesheet in the case after which the agency submitted the document in the sessions court.