A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court Tuesday granted bail to seven of the nine people arrested for their alleged involvement in the Adarsh Housing Society scam.
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.
While granting bail, Special Judge M.V. Kulkarni said: “This court is not dwelling on the question of the title of the land but is looking into the offence that involves conspiracy, abetment and misuse of official position.”
The bail was granted on a surety of Rs.500,000 each and the accused were directed to report at the CBI office in Mumbai every Tuesday and Thursday.
All the accused had sought bail on the ground that the CBI had not filed a chargesheet even 60 days after arresting them. The central probe agency claimed it had 30 more days to act.
The other two accused, former Mumbai municipal commissioner Jairaj Phatak and retired information commissioner Ramanand Tiwari, have not applied for bail.
The CBI had Monday opposed bail to the seven accused stating that it was examining additional stringent charges which could be slapped on them and that it had 90 days to file the charge sheet and not 60 as claimed by the accused.
Opposing the bail, prosecutor Bharat Badami told the court that the probe agency had collected samples of the hand writing of the accused and sent them for analysis.
The CBI was collecting evidence to prove that the accused had committed offences of criminal breach of trust and forgery.
Over a year after the CBI registered a case against 14 people in the scam and two months after making the first of nine arrests, the agency is likely to add two new charges against the accused.
Many army officials and politicians, including former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan, are alleged to have facilitated clearances for the housing society’s building and received flats in it as quid pro quo.
The scam involves a prime plot in south Mumbai’s Colaba area on which a 31-storey building was constructed by the society.