Maharashtra Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao on Thursday gave his sanction to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to prosecute former chief minister and Congress leader Ashok Chavan in the Adarsh scam.
The governor has sanctioned Chavan’s prosecution under Section 197 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and Section 120-B and Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Chavan had to resign in November 2010 in the wake of the scam.
Chavan, 57, is currently the president of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC), and an MP from Nanded.
“The governor had sought the aid and advice of the council of ministers and was advised to grant the sanction,” a Raj Bhavan statement said.
“By letter dated October 8, 2015, the Joint Director, CBI, Mumbai, had sought sanction for prosecution of Ashok Chavan under Section 197 CrPC on the basis of the additional or fresh material, namely, the report of Justice Patil Commission of Enquiry and the observations of the Bombay High Court in the criminal revision application no 136 of 2014,” the communiqué reasoned.
“The re-application of the CBI to prosecute me is illegal, I would react in detail after consulting my legal advisers,” Chavan said.
In 2013, the then governor K Sankaranarayanan had turned down the CBI’s plea to prosecute Chavan. As a result, the CBI had to petition the Bombay High Court to drop Chavan’s name.
The 31-storey Adarsh building is located in Colaba, a plush locality in Mumbai. It was originally meant to be a six-storey structure to house Kargil War heroes and their kin but was later extended to 31 floors allegedly without mandatory permission.
Published 04 February 2016, 20:24 IST