Adarsh housing scam: Bail plea of seven accused rejected

MUMBAI: Observing that investigations had reached a crucial stage, a special court today rejected the bail plea of seven accused, including former Congress legislator K L Gidwani, in the multi-crore Adarsh housing society scam.

Hearing their petition, judge M V Kulkarni maintained that investigations were at a crucial stage and hence he was not inclined to grant them bail at this juncture.

Besides Gidwani, the other accused who had sought bail were Maharashtra bureaucrat Pradeep Vyas, Major General (retd) T K Kaul, Major General (retd) A R Kumar, Brigadier (retd) M M Wanchoo, retired Defence Estates Officer R C Thakur and ex- Deputy Secretary in Urban Development Department P V Deshmukh.

All of them were yesterday remanded in judicial custody till April 17.

The accused sought bail on the ground that investigations were over and there was no need for their custodial interrogation.

Opposing their plea, the CBI, which is probing the scam which came to light in 2010, argued that if the accused are released on bail, they might tamper with evidence and threaten witnesses.

The scam pertains to alleged irregularities in construction and allotment of apartments in the 32-storeyed highrise, originally meant for families of Kargil war heroes, in the upmarket Colaba area in south Mumbai.