The ghosts of Adarsh scam revisited on Wednesday with the Central Bureau of Investigations(CBI), a day before submitting a status report to the Bombay High Court, arrested two high-ranking retired major generals and a senior serving IAS officer in the case.
In all, four were arrested on Wednesday - Major Generals A R Kumar and T K Kaul (both retired), Dr Pradeep Vyas, Secretary (Expenditure), Department of Finance, Maharashtra and Kanhiyalal Gidwani, former Congress MLC and key promoter of Adarsh Housing Society. Gidwani, cooling his heels in jail for bribing CBI counsel, was picked up from the gates of Arthur Road Jail while coming out on bail. The total number of arrests in the case now stands at seven.
More arrests are expected in the coming days, including the possibility of questioning former state chief ministers - Ashok Chavan, Vilasrao Deshmukh and Sushil Kumar Shinde, whose names have figured prominently in the scam not only as recipients but also favouring their relatives.
On Tuesday, CBI had taken into custody three persons, including a retired brigadier and a former bureaucrat. Even though rumours were afloat in regard to the arrest of political power-broker Gidwani, his arrest took place only early Wednesday morning.
Reports reaching here revealed that Kumar, who was ex-general officer commanding (GOC-Maharashtra), was picked up on Tuesday from his Hyderabad residence. He was produced before a Hyderabad court for seeking a transit remand. According to an official communique, “Kumar is still in transit. All four would be produced in court tomorrow (Thursday).”
Quid pro quo
Giving details about the arrests, CBI stated that both retired major generals were GOC of Maharashtra when the contentious plot of land on which 31-storey sky-rise containing 104 apartments, in the much-sought-after south Mumbai Colaba region, was constructed.
According to CBI officials, Kumar as a GOC had given a NOC (No Objection Certificate) to the then collector, Dr Pradeep Vyas, for the construction of a residential building on the plot.