PIL seeks report on probe of 'benami' deals in Adarsh scam

The Bombay High Court today sought a reply from the Cenral Bureau of Investigation on a public interest litigation seeking status report of the probe in the Adarsh Housing Society scam.
Petitioner, former journalist Ketan Tirodkar has sought in particular a report on investigation into 'benami' transactions in the purchase of flats in the controversial Adarsh Housing Society in south Mumbai.
The division bench of Justices P V Hardas and P N Deshmukh directed CBI to file a reply affidavit on October 17.
Tirodkar has also sought information from Maharashtra's principal secretary, home, about the proposal sent by CBI seeking sanction to prosecute some state bureaucrats for their alleged involvement in the scam.

According to Tirodkar, the chief secretary had reportedly told the media and the probe agency that there was no case for sanctions, as the concerned bureaucrats had done nothing wrong.
CBI filed a chargesheet in the case before the special CBI court last year, which names former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and 12 others as the accused. Chavan has been accused of granting some approvals to the society as a quid pro quo for allotment of three flats to his relatives.

All the accused are facing the charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating and criminal misconduct under sections 120(B) and 420 of Indian Penal Code and section 13(1) (d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, respectively.

The agency had then said it was still investigating the benami transactions, and may file a supplementary chargesheet.
There have been allegations that in some cases, people standing in as proxies for prominent political leaders bought flats in the Society.