Chavan on Adarsh chargesheet: 'Conspiracy by rivals'

Accusing his political rivals of trying to implicate him in the multi-crore Adarsh Housing Scam, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan on Wednesday said the Central Bureau of Investigation chargesheet against him was "unfortunate".

"This (CBI chargesheet) is unfortunate and unexpected," Chavan told PTI.

 "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 charged

"By giving the issue unwarranted publicity, my political rivals are trying to implicate me," the senior state Congress leader charged.

"Neither was I associated with allotment of land to the Adarsh society nor did I have anything to do with the list of its members," Chavan claimed.

"I have full faith in the judiciary and am confident that I will be proved innocent and emerge out unscathed," the former chief minister said, adding that he would consult his legal team and decide on the further course of action on the issue.

"The truth will prevail. I have done nothing wrong. It is really unfortunate that I have been named in the charge sheet," he rued.

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

Besides Chavan, Congress leader K L Gidwani, top-ranking retired army officers Lt General P K Rampal, Major Generals A R Kumar and T K Kaul, retired brigadiers R C Sharma and M M Wanchoo are among the accused.

The late mother-in-law and sister-in-law of Chavan had flats in the society.

Chavan was revenue minister during 2001-03 and had dealt with files pertaining to the ownership of land. He is alleged to have recommended allotment of 40 percent flats to civilians in the society, which was said to be meant for Kargil widows and war heroes.

Prithviraj Chavan 'surprised'

Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Wednesday said the Central Bureau of Investigation chargesheet in the multi-crore Adarsh housing scam, which includes his predecessor Ashok Chavan, had surprised him.

The state government has always maintained that it had not asked for a CBI probe, as the land on which the 31-storeyed controversial building stood belonged to the Maharashtra government, Chavan told mediapersons in Mumbai.

When asked about his predecessor Ashok Chavan's remarks that his political rivals were trying to implicate him, the chief minister said he had no comments to make on this issue.

"But, I am also surprised," he said.

On the issue of former chief ministers passing the buck to bureaucrats while deposing before the judicial commission, Chavan said, "Every body had the right to defend themselves."