CBI gets Maharashtra governor's nod to prosecute Chavan in Adarsh scam

Chavan says its illegal, will proceed further after seeking legal advice

The governor of Maharashtra has given his formal sanction for the prosecution of the state’s former chief minister, Ashok Chavan (pictured), in the Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society scam. This sanction is required for the investigating agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), to file a chargesheet in court. The agency wished to file charges of cheating and criminal conspiracy against the ex-CM. The governor acted on the recommendation to do so from the state government.

Chavan is from the Congress party; the government is now run by a coalition of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena. Vidyasagar Rao, the governor, is a former BJP senior. Campaigning for his party’s candidate in the Palghar bypoll, Chavan told this newspaper: “CBI’s re-application to governor to prosecute me is totally illegal. We will seek the legal advice and proceed further.”

K Sankaranarayanan, the then governor, had in December 2013 refused sanction to the CBI to prosecute Chavan, who had to step down as CM after the scam surfaced in November 2010. Chavan was among the 12 people sought to be chargesheeted by the investigation agency. CBI was said to have then closed the case against Chavan but its joint director had, through a letter of October 8, 2015, again sought sanction for Chavan’s prosecution, citing additional material from the report of the Justice Patil Commission of Inquiry in the matter and the observations of the high court here in a revision application of 2014.