Nobody will be spared in Adarsh scam: Antony

NEW DELHI: Defence Minister A K Antony on Wednesday said the government and the armed forces will not spare any person found guilty of wrongdoing in the Adarsh Housing Society scam in Mumbai.

"Whoever is found guilty will be punished. Nobody will be spared," he told reporters on the sidelines of an aerospace seminar here.

"Whenever there are allegations and they are proved, we take strong action. Whatever the allegation, the armed forces and the government is taking action. No other agency takes this strong action. Only armed forces are taking strong action," Antony said.

He was asked about the alleged involvement of senior serving and retired officers from the armed forces and defence ministry in getting prime army land in upscale Colaba transferred to the private housing society.

"There are two inquiries by CBI and the Army to fix responsibility. These investigations are going on. We will take whatever action is required. There will be no let up," he said.

"We want to maintain integrity. We will not ignore it," he added.

The 31-storey housing society had come up on a piece of land within the security perimeter of the naval establishments in Colaba and the Navy raised an alarm, stating that the high rise posed a grave security risk as all vital installations were easily visible from atop the 100-metre tall building.

A Defence Ministry probe had revealed that several serving and retired Army officers and Defence Estates officials had colluded with the private housing society to construct the building there.

Antony had last month asked the CBI to probe the case, even as the Army ordered a court of inquiry into the role of its serving and retired officers in issuing a No-Objection Certificate.