2 more Adarsh accused get bail as CBI fails to file charge sheet

A special CBI court on Friday granted bail to Jairaj Phatak, former civic commissioner, Mumbai, and Ramanand Tiwari, former principal secretary, Urban Development Depa-rtment (UDD), Maharashtra. Both were behind bars in connection with the Adarsh cooperative housing society scam.

A special CBI court on Friday granted bail to Jairaj Phatak, former civic commissioner, Mumbai, and Ramanand Tiwari, former principal secretary, Urban Development Depa-rtment (UDD), Maharashtra. Both were behind bars in connection with the Adarsh cooperative housing society scam.

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The bail was granted as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) failed to file the charge sheet in the case within the stipulated 60 days from their arrest. Last week, seven high-profile accused were released on bail for the same reason.

Phatak and Tiwari were arrested on April 3. In their bail plea, they contended that as the punishment for the offences in which they had been booked is less than 10 years, the CBI ought to have filed the charge sheet within 60 days of their arrest.

Snehal Kairnar, one of the advocates for Tiwari, said: “The court has released the two on the ground of parity as the other seven accused have been granted bail on the same ground.”

Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is expected to issue summons to all the nine accused released on bail, in order to question them in connection with a money-laundering case.