Despite being reprimanded several times by the Bombay High Court for shoddy investigation, the CBI has yet again failed to meet the deadlines set by it in the Adarsh Housing Society scam case. The court will hear the case next on June 18.
Nearly two months ago, the agency told the court that it would finish the probe and submit the final report by June 15. But CBI officials refused to say when the charge sheet would be filed in the case, in which apartments meant for the Kargil war widows were allegedly diverted to bureaucrats.
Informed sources said a few CBI officials had gone to Delhi in this connection.
A CBI official, however, said the agency had not committed itself to filing the charge sheet by June 15. “We had said we will submit the final report by June 15.”
Asked whether the agency had submitted the final report, the officials refused to reply.
The lower court has granted bail to all the nine accused, as the CBI failed to file a charge sheet within the stipulated 60 days. They are R.C. Thajur; Brigadier (retired) M. M. Wanchu; Kanhaiyalal Gidwani; senior IAS officers Pradeep Vyas, P.V. Deshmukh and Jairaj Phatak; retired IAS officer Ramanand Tiwari; Major General (retired) A.R. Kumar; and Major General (retired) T.K. Kaul.
The CBI has also failed to show progress in the case of some important note sheets going missing from the Adarsh file in the office of Maharashtra's Urban Development Department. Last year, the lower court granted bail to all three arrested employees of the Department as the agency did not file the charge sheet within the stipulated period. Then, the High Court rapped the agency for taking the matter lightly.
Experts attribute the delay to many factors, including political pressure. “… the dropping of the names of two prime suspects, who are also Union Ministers — Vilasrao Deshmukh and Sushilkumar Shinde — has caused surprise. They [the CBI] are on the horns of a dilemma. That is why the charge sheet might be getting delayed,” lawyer Y.P. Singh, who has also filed a petition in a different matter in the Adarsh case, told The Hindu on Friday.
