Maharashtra govt challenges CBI's jurisdiction in Adarsh case

Mumbai: In a new development in the Adarsh Housing Society scam, the Maharashtra government has questioned the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) jurisdiction in investigating the case. As the CBI gets ready to file its chargesheet in the case, the government has filed an affidavit in the Bombay High Court saying it had never asked for inquiry by the central probe agency in the first place.

The scam had fuelled a political storm in Maharashtra that led to the resignation of Ashok Chavan as Chief Minister. Chavan is among the 14 accused in the case in which Union Ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh and Sushilkumar Shinde are also under the scanner.

The CBI on June 18 had assured the High Court that it would file a chargesheet in the case before July 4 as the agency had to take prior sanction from the government to prosecute bureaucrats.

The government has filed an affidavit in the Bombay High Court saying it had never asked for inquiry by the CBI.

It was expected that the first chargesheet may not name any bureaucrat or public servant as the High Court had suggested to the CBI that it could first file chargesheet against those accused for whom sanction was not required.

The CBI has registered a case on January 29 last year against Chavan and 13 others, which included bureaucrats and retired Army personnel.

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