CBI names Ashok Chavan in Adarsh FIR, but not as accused (Third Lead)

MUMBAI - In an embarrassment to the ruling Democratic Front government, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Saturday named former chief minister Ashok Chavan besides 13 persons in its detailed FIR lodged in the Adarsh Co-operative Housing Society scam, official sources said here.

The FIR makes a mention of Chavan, but he is not named as an accused in the case.

Besides Chavan, the FIR also names another 13 persons, including politician Kanhaiyalal Gidwani, former Mumbai collector Pradeep Vyas, a former major general M.M. Wanchu and R.C. Thakur, in the report filed before a Mumbai court Saturday afternoon, the sources said.

When contacted, CBI Western Region Director Rishi Raj Singh declined to officially comment on the issue of Chavans name in the report.

The development comes in the wake of the Bombay High Court seeking to know what action the CBI had taken in the matter without registering a FIR into the case.

At a hearing Jan 18, the high court had directed the investigating agency to do file the FIR in the case within two weeks.

Nearly a month after the Adarsh scam broke out resulting in the removal of ex-CM Chavan, the CBI had started a preliminary probe into the case Nov 15.

Among other things, the society was accused of usurping a prime plot of defence land meant to house heroes of Kargil war, violating floor space index rules, throwing to the winds Coastal Regulation Zone norms and flouting other regulations.

Following Chavans exit, a former state human rights commission member Subhash Lalla also quit for their involvement in the scam.

The state information commissioner, Ramanand Tiwari, was suspended Jan 20 by the state government which initiated proceedings seeking his removal from the constitutional post.

Besides, the state government is also looking into the role of various other bureaucrats whose names have cropped up in the scam.

Similarly, the defence authorities have also initiated a parallel probe into the role of its officers who were directly or indirectly involved in the scam.