Adarsh: CBI raids ex-civic chief's premises, finds 'incriminating' evidence
March 16, 2011 01:43 IST
The Central Bureau of Investigation has claimed to have found incriminating documents pertaining to the Adarsh Housing Society from the premises of senior Indian Administrative Service officer and former Mumbai civic chief Jairaj Phatak.
The CBI, which is investigating the Adarsh scam, carried out searches at the premises of Phatak and his relatives in Mumbai, Pune, their hometown Yavatmal and New Delhi. Phatak's son Kanishk is among the 103 members who own an apartment in Adarsh society. Besides the Adarsh flat, CBI teams searched the official residence and office of Phatak in New Delhi, Kanishk's residence at Marine Drive in Mumbai and a bungalow in Pune.
On Tuesday morning, the CBI started searches at Kanishk's residence in Shantiniketan apartments at Marine Drive. As part of the CBI team was conducting the search, the other officials questioned Phatak's family members. According to sources, the interrogation continued for five hours.
The investigating agency claimed that they had seized some 'incriminating' documents related to the Adarsh society from Phatak's home. The CBI also found that Phatak and his family were in possession of 22 bank accounts in different banks and had fixed deposits worth Rs 50 lakh.
The CBI's probe into Phatak's involvement in the Adarsh scam got a boost when it got sanction from the Union government to prosecute the senior bureaucrat on Monday.
Phatak had allegedly approved to increase the height of Adarsh society from the earlier 97 metres to 107 metres, without the sanction of the committee on the highrise building. Phatak had given sanction to the building in his capacity as the municipal commissioner of Mumbai.
Phatak is now the additional secretary at the Rural Electrification Corporation with the Union government in New Delhi.
N Ganesh in Mumbai
