CBI to seek legal opinion on former Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is set to seek fresh legal opinion on the option of prosecuting former Maharashatra chief minister Ashok Chavan for his suspected role in Mumbai's Adarsh Society scam for alleged misconduct under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) act.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is set to seek fresh legal opinion on the option of prosecuting former Maharashatra chief minister Ashok Chavan for his suspected role in Mumbai's Adarsh Society scam for alleged misconduct under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) act.

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The agency's move came in the wake of the Bombay high court's Wednesday order dismissing Chavan's application seeking recall of its previous order that had disallowed the CBI from deleting his name from its first case chargesheet of July 2012. The high court had in November 2014 also rejected the CBI request.

"We are waiting for the high court's order's copy after which we will seek fresh legal opinion on the issue," said an agency source.

"The HC had observed that the governor had not given sanction to prosecute the former CM under the Indian Penal Code, but he could still be prosecuted for other alleged offences under the Prevention of Corruption act," said the source. "A prosecution under the PC act may not require any gubernatorial sanction, we will seek legal opinion on this," said the source.

The CBI had earlier first approached the special CBI court with a request to drop Chavan's name as an accused on grounds that the then state governor had refused to sanction the former CM's prosecution on the ground that there was no evidence against him to show any criminal conspiracy.

The special court rejected the CBI request after which the agency had moved the high court with the same request. The agency's chargesheet had levelled allegations of cheating and criminal conspiracy against Chavan.