Adarsh Housing scam: To nail ex-servicemen , CBI may be roped in for probe

NEW DELHI: The central government is on the verge of calling in the CBI to look into the conspiracy behind the Adarsh housing scam, with a decision to hand over probe to the central agency expected this week before the winter session of Parliament begins.

According to sources, the defence ministry considers that a probe by the CBI is necessary because many of the scam’s beneficiaries belonging to Services have since retired and are, therefore , outside the purview of the Army Act and the Navy Act.

As reported by TOI, the Army is also close to ordering a Court of Inquiry to look into the role of serving officers. Monday’s TV reports that the CoI has already been constituted was factually wrong, Army sources said, adding that they were working on the constitution of the CoI and other modalities.

As the enormity of the scam and the scale of conspiracy sinks in, senior sources in the government are hinting that the MoD would formally call in CBI to look at the conspiracy before the winter session of Parliament begins in the second week of November.

If the MoD were to take such a decision , it would be for the first time in the history of independent India that so many former senior military leaders would be investigated for what the MoD has already called prima facie “criminal conspiracy” .