Ashok Chavan

Mumbai, July 4: Former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan was today charged in the Adarsh scam along with 12 others, accused of granting approvals in return for two flats for his relatives in the highrise.

The Congress leader described the CBI’s move as “unfortunate and unexpected” and smelt the hand of rivals. “This is unfortunate and unexpected. Adarsh housing is only an administrative matter. However, there is a conspiracy by my rivals to malign me. The issue has been blown out of proportion,” Ashok Chavan told reporters after the chargesheet was filed in a special CBI court.

The 10,000-page document was filed over 18 months after the January 2011 FIR, which had named 14, including Ashok Chavan who had to quit over the scandal.

The chargesheet accuses him of approving additional floor space index (FSI) for the housing society in Mumbai's upscale Colaba during his tenure from 2008 to 2010. It alleges that he gave these approvals as a quid pro quo for getting flats allotted to his mother-in-law and brother-in-law.

As revenue minister from 2001-03, Ashok Chavan has also been charged with illegally approving the allotment of 40 per cent of the flats for civilians in the society that was supposed to be meant for Kargil widows and war heroes. He had dealt with files pertaining to the ownership of the land.

The former chief minister denied the charges. “Neither was I associated with allotment of land to the society nor did I have anything to do with the list of its members. I have full faith in the judiciary and am confident that I will be proved innocent and emerge unscathed.”

Current chief minister Prithviraj Chavan also expressed “surprise” at his predecessor’s inclusion. Hours before the chargesheet was filed, the Prithviraj-led administration told Bombay High Court that the state had not requested the central agency to investigate the case.

The chargesheet also names five retired army officers, IAS officers and an ex-Congress MLC, besides some members of the housing society.

One of the army officers, Brigadier (Retd) M.M. Wanchoo, is accused of conspiring to illegally get the land allotted in favour of the housing society in which they were members. Another officer, Colonel (Retd) R. Bakshi, has been charged with giving a letter certifying that the land did not belong to the army.

The statements of Vilasrao Deshmukh and Sushil Kumar Shinde, Union ministers who were chief ministers and under the scanner, have not been incorporated in the chargesheet. Some benami deals are being probed and could be included in a supplementary chargesheet later, the CBI said.