‘As my son is a beneficiary, CBI made me an accused’

Following Tuesday’s raids on his property, former city municipal commissioner and one of the 14 accused in the Adarsh society scam, Jairaj Phatak, dismissed all charges levelled against him. HT reports.

Following Tuesday’s raids on his property, former city municipal commissioner and one of the 14 accused in the Adarsh society scam, Jairaj Phatak, dismissed all charges levelled against him.

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A 1978-batch Indian Administrative Service officer, Phatak on Thursday said that he had cleared the height of the Adarsh tower using the administrative powers vested in him as the city’s civic chief.

He, however, denied favouring the society because his son Kanishk owned a flat in the building. The officer also maintained that the piece of land on which the 31-storey tower was built, belonged to the state government. He said that his son had applied for the Adarsh membership in 2003. “The CBI has made me an accused because my son is a beneficiary. He [the son] got membership in 2004 and I cleared the file in 2009. My son was working then and earning a good salary.”

Phatak, who now heads the central government undertaking, Rural Electrification Corporation, said his brief as the civic chief was limited to clearing the height of the Adarsh buildings. “I did so because, the high-rise committee had already approved of it. Rest of the clearances came from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). And, MMRDA too has told the court that all clearances were legal.”

The officer denied allegations of amassing assets disproportionate to his official income. “I don’t know about incriminating documents which the CBI claims to have seized from my homes. I don’t have any money that is not accounted for and I don’t live a luxurious life. We still use a 1998 model of Maruti 800, which my father had gifted to my wife.”

He said that he has been informing the state government about every major purchase, immovable properties and foreign tours, if any, every year.

Phatak said that his family could buy many houses because they had invested wisely.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had made him the 14th accused in the case early this week and raided his seven houses in New Delhi and Maharashtra on Tuesday.