CBI to name ex-army men, politicians in Adarsh FIR

After receiving flak from the Bombay high court for the tardy probe into the Adarsh Society case, the Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday said it was all set to register a first information report next week which will name some retired army officials and a few politicians.

The CBI, which had registered a preliminary inquiry into the scam in November last year, was pulled up by the HC on Tuesday for delay in registering an FIR in the case.

Highly-placed sources in the agency said the evidence had been analysed by the legal cell of the CBI after which it was decided to register a case against some people for allegedly forging documents and abusing their official position. The court had directed the agency to complete their inquiry and take a final decision on registration of FIR within two weeks.

During the hearing of a petition in the Adarsh case, a division bench of Justices B H Marlapalle and U D Salvi asked, "It has been more than two months since the CBI has been conducting a preliminary inquiry into the case. Why have you not registered an FIR as yet?"

Two former army chiefs General Deepak Kapoor and General N C Vij and ex-Navy chief Admiral Madhavendra Singh owned flats in the scam-hit society building in upscale Colaba. However, the former top army officers have claimed that they have surrendered the flats now.

The Union ministry of environment and forests had on January 16 ordered the demolition of the building within three months, holding it as "unauthorised" and built in violation of the spirit of coastal regulations.

Apart from violating the Coastal Regulation Zone norms, the society is alleged to have got various clearances from authorities through dubious means.

The plush housing society, built on prime defence land, has been constructed in alleged violation of rules. The building was originally meant to be a six-storey structure to house Kargil war heroes and their kin but was later extended to 31 floors allegedly without mandatory permission.

The scam has already taken its first political casualty with Ashok Chavan resigning as chief minister of Maharashtra.