Adarsh: CBI to file reply on plea to arraign ex-CM as accused

Activist Pravin Wategaonkar alleged that Patil-Nilangekar, during his tenure as the Revenue Minister, granted certain approvals to Adarsh society illegally

The Bombay High Court today granted two weeks time to CBI to file its affidavit in reply to a petition seeking to include former Maharashtra Chief Minister Shivajirao Patil-Nilangekar as an accused in the Adarsh Housing Society scam.

Activist Pravin Wategaonkar filed the petition alleging that Patil-Nilangekar, during his tenure as the Revenue Minister, granted certain approvals to Adarsh society illegally.

In return, his son-in-law Arun Dawle was allotted a flat in the plush high-rise in south Mumbai, Wategaonkar claimed.

The activist approached the high court after the sessions court rejected his application filed there.

Wategaonkar relied on an application of CBI in the lower court, seeking the custody of former MLA and Adarsh promoter Kanhaiyalal Gidwani when he was arrested.

"CBI in its remand application said Gidwani had opened an account in Kallappanna Awade Ichalkaranji Janata Sahakari Bank in Sangli under a proxy name, in which huge amounts of cash was deposited by him from time to time. Most of the amount deposited was then transferred to the accounts of his wife, sons and daughters-in-law and also to the account of M/s Jai Maharashtra in which his sons are directors," the appplication said.

"The said amounts were used for making payments towards the benami flats booked in Adarsh. Arun Dawle, son-in-law of Patil-Nilangekar, received at least Rs 17.60 lakh from the Jai Maharashtra account. Nilangekar misused his official position and showed undue favours to the society. In return, Dawle was alloted flat in the society," Wategaonkar alleged.

A division bench headed by Justice R V More asked CBI to file its affidavit within two weeks.