Adarsh Society scam: CBI informs HC about registration of FIR

MUMBAI: The CBI today informed the Bombay High Court that it has registered case against 13 accused in the Adarsh Housing Society scam following which the court directed social activist Simpreet Singh to forward his complaint and papers to the central investigation agency.

Singh had demanded that the entire scam probe be handed over to CBI.

A division bench of Justices B H Marlapalle and U D Salvi also rejected an application filed by one of the accused in the case and former Deputy Secretary of Urban Development Department, P V Deshmukh seeking to clear his stand before the court and get a copy of the FIR.

"Deshmukh has been implicated in the case without allowing him to clear his stand. His letters of recommendation has been misconstrued. He received a letter from the members of Adarsh Society and as a Deputy Secretary of the Urban Development department he only forwarded it to the Union Environment Ministry," Deshmukh's lawyer Niteen Pradhan argued.

The High Court however refused to hear the application and observed, "CBI is responsible and must have named someone as an accused only after reasonable suspicion. It is an established fact that an accused does not have right to clear his stand before hand."

The Court also directed Deshmukh to seek a copy of the FIR before the special CBI court.

On a plea made by the petitioner to transfer the missing papers case also to CBI, the bench directed the Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch to file a reply by February 17.