Adarsh accused move court to defreeze bank accounts

MUMBAI: The special CBI court hearing the Adarsh scam on Tuesday received applications from former deputy secretary P V Deshmukh, an accused in the case, and family of another accused former civic body chief Jairaj Phatak seeking to defreeze their bank accounts.

"We have moved the application for defreezing the accounts (which were frozen by CBI) and the hearing is on September 8," Deshmukh's lawyer Niteen Pradhan said.

The CBI in its FIR had accused Deshmukh of misusing his official power by fraudulently communicating to the BMC (local civic body) that the Ministry of Environment and Forest had given a 'No Objection Certificate' to Adarsh Society for constructing a residential building.

Wife and daughter of Phatak also filed a similar petition.

"They have moved an application seeking to defreeze the bank accounts," Phatak's lawyer Ashok Mundergi said.

According to the CBI, Phatak's son Kanishka is one of the 103 members owing an apartment in Adarsh Housing Society in Mumbai's upmarket Colaba area.

The CBI had alleged in its FIR that Phatak, during his tenure as BMC chief, had approved the height of the Adarsh building to be increased from 97 m to 107 m on September 1, 2007.

Incidentally, Adarsh Society's application seeking release of the documents seized by the CBI is pending before the court.

All the applications are likely to come up for hearing on September 8.