CBI names former Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan in Adarsh chargesheet

Mumbai, Jul 4 (PTI): Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan was among 13 people charge sheeted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday in the Adarsh Housing scam.

The 10,000-page CBI charge sheet was filed before the Registrar of a sessions court, nearly 18 months after the agency registered a case.

The Adarsh scam had fuelled a political storm in Maharashtra leading to the resignation of Chavan as the Chief Minister.

Earlier in the day, the CBI informed the Bombay High Court, which is hearing a batch of public interest litigations seeking the court's supervision of the probe, that it would be filing a charge sheet later in the day.

The CBI has registered a case on January 29 last year against Chavan and others, including bureaucrats and retired army officers.

In March, the agency had arrested nine out of the 14 accused after receiving a rap on its knuckles from the High Court for not initiating action against the accused persons.

The nine arrested accused are - R C Thakur, secretary of Adarsh, retired brigadier M M Wanchoo, former Congress MLC Kanhaiyalal Gidwani, both promoters of the society, former deputy secretary of urban development department P V Deshmukh, IAS officers Ramanand Tiwari and Jairaj Phatak, retired major generals A R Kumar and T K Kaul and former city collector Pradeep Vyas.

They were released on bail by a special CBI court after CBI failed to file charge sheet within the stipulated 60-day period after arrest.

They have been charged with criminal conspiracy, cheating and the Prevention of Corruption Act.