Devendra Fadnavis Defends Nod To Prosecute Ashok Chavan In Adarsh Scam Case

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, however, rejected Chavan’s charge and defended the decision of his cabinet to give go-ahead in the case, holding there was sufficient ground for that.

The CBI’s first hint at a change of position had come this April when it opposed Chavan’s plea before the Supreme Court to quash the case against him.

Chavan, a Lok Sabha member from Nanded and the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president, had to step down as chief minister after the scam surfaced in 2010. The CBI had sought the governor’s sanction to prosecute Chavan after getting fresh evidence against him in the case.

With Ashok Chavan alleging that the ruling party at the Centre was pressurizing the CBI to implicate him in the Adarsh Housing Society scam, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy said the former Maharashtra chief minister can have these matters tested in court if he thinks that the sanction given is wrong.

On October 8, 2015, Combined Director CBI, Mumbai, had wanted sanction for justice of Chavan under section 197 CrPC about the foundation of extra or clean substance, such as the statement of Justice Patil Fee of Request and also the findings of the Bombay High-Court within the legal modification software, he explained.

Besides the flouting of rules, which the public regards as routine, the most disturbing aspect of the Adarsh Scam was how ministers, politicians, top army officials and bureaucrats were making a beeline to get flats in a building mean for war widows.

In an embarrassment for Maha Congress, Governor CH Vidyasagar Rao has given his permission to prosecute Chavan in Adarsh housing scam.

This, being an ongoing investigation, with no need to lodge a fresh FIR or a fresh preliminary inquiry, one can expect criminal proceedings to begin against Chavan very soon. The CBI had been looking for the Maharashtra government’s approval for an investigation and now that they have it, the CBI is going to be prosecuting former Chief Minister, Chavan. “This is just a vindictive attitude of the BJP”, Chavan told PTI.

Condemning the governor’s sanction for Chavan’s prosecution, senior party leader and MLC Sanjay Dutt termed it “BJP’s vendetta politics to throttle the opposition expose on their misdoings”.