Sushil Kumar Shinde being questioned in Adarsh scam by CBI

New Delhi/Mumbai (PTI) - Indian Power Minister
Sushil Kumar Shinde is being questioned by the Central Bureau
of Investigation (CBI) in Delhi in connection with the Adarsh
Housing Society scam, officials said Sunday.
Shinde was the Chief Minister of western Indian state
Maharashtra when the files related to the controversial
high-rise Adarsh building in upscale south Mumbai were
processed.
"A team of CBI officials from Mumbai went to Delhi
last night and is questioning Shinde today about the files and
the sanctions pertaining to the society," a senior official
from the agency said in Mumbai.
Shinde, as the Chief Minister, had accepted the
proposal sent by Ashok Chavan, the then revenue minister,
recommending that 40 per cent of flats in the proposed society
be alloted to non-army members. The society was originally
meant for the kin of Kargil war martyrs.
According to sources, CBI was likely to question union
minister Vilasrao Deshmukh soon, who too had dealt with Adarsh
files when he was the Chief Minister here.
In January this year, CBI registered a case against 14
persons including Ashok Chavan (who succeeded Deshmukh as
Chief Minister but had to resign when Adarsh scandal broke),
some retired army officials and government officials on the
charges of criminal conspiracy, fraud and misuse of official
powers.
In May, CBI had told the Bombay High Court that there
was no prima facie evidence linking Deshmukh and Shinde to the
scam. A PIL had sought probe against the two ministers.
So far, the agency has questioned several accused,
including former Mumbai corporation commissioner Jairaj
Phatak, Congress leader K L Gidwani, suspended state
information commissioner Ramanand Tiwari, former deputy
secretary of state urban development department P V Deshmukh
and Adarsh Society's secretary, R C Thakur.
The building was constructed on what is alleged to be
Defence Ministry's land, in violation of several rules.
Originally it was meant to be a six-storey building, but it
went on to become a 31-storey high-rise, allegedly without
permission.