MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Wednesday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday to investigate the Adarsh cooperative housing society scam further.
“A proper investigation has not been carried out,” said the division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Amjad Sayed, expressing dissatisfaction about the investigation carried out by the central agency to determine who carved out the piece of land by dropping the proposed road widening of Captain Prakash Pethe Marg, changing its user and granting approval for allotting it to the private society.
The bench expressed dissatisfaction about the investigation carried out by the CBI and asked additional solicitor general Anil Singh to seek instructions from CBI joint director Amrit Prasad if he was willing to undertake an investigation on his own.
Singh said that according to the director, the investigation was complete and thus, the joint director, being subordinate to the director, would not be able to make such a statement. He said however, that he would investigate further, if the court directed him to do so.
The judges felt that the Investigating Officer (IO) had not investigated the ideas presented by Thane resident Pravin Wategaonkar and directed the CBI to investigate further.
Wategaonkar said four flats had been earmarked in the high-rise building at Cuffe Parade for two “high and mighty” people (Shivajirao Patil-Nilangekar, the then revenue minister and Sushilkumar Shinde) from Mantralaya in lieu of clearing files related to the scam-hit society.
The court asked the IO to submit a report of the investigation within two months. The bench felt that a further investigation was necessary in view of judgment pronounced by another bench of the high court directing the central and the state governments to initiate appropriate civil and/or criminal action against public servants involved.
{{/usCountry}}The court asked the IO to submit a report of the investigation within two months. The bench felt that a further investigation was necessary in view of judgment pronounced by another bench of the high court directing the central and the state governments to initiate appropriate civil and/or criminal action against public servants involved.
{{/usCountry}}Wategaonkar had cited the findings of retired Justice JA Patil Commission, which conducted an inquiry into the scam. It found the dropping of proposed road widening and the change in reservation of the plot “was not in accordance with the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning (MRTP) Act and was illegal and mala-fide”.
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