Adarsh scam: Two detained for interrogation

Mumbai, April 3 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Tuesday detained two senior Maharashtra bureaucrats for questioning in the Adarsh housing society scam, an official said.

"(Former municipal commissioner) Jairaj Phatak and (retired information commissioner) Ramanand Tiwari are being interrogated," a top CBI official told IANS.

Phatak was the municipal commissioner of Mumbai in 2010 when the building's height was allowed to be increased beyond 100 metres but without approval from the High-Rise Committee of the municipal body. Phatak's son has been allotted a flat in the society.

Tiwari's son has also been allotted a flat in the building.

Last month, the CBI had made seven arrests in the case, namely Maj Gen (retd) A.R. Kumar, Maj Gen (retd) T.K. Kaul, IAS officer Pradeep Vyas, former Congress legislator Kanahiyalal Gidwani, retired defence estates officer R.C. Thakur, Brig (retd) M.M. Wanchoo and former deputy secretary, urban development P.V. Deshmukh.

The Maharashtra government had then suspended Vyas, the collector of Mumbai when the scam took place, and Phatak in connection with the scam. They were named in the FIR filed by the CBI in the case Jan 29.

The scam involves a prime plot in South Mumbai's Colaba on which a 31-storey building was constructed by the society.

CBI's action last month had come after the Bombay High Court division bench of Justices P.B. Majmudar and R.D. Dhanuka questioned the agency for delaying the arrests in the case.

The court had on March 12 rapped the CBI for not initiating action against government officials involved in the scam.

The division bench had Feb 28 also castigated the Enforcement Directorate for "serious lapses" in failing to initiate investigations against some Adarsh society members allegedly involved in money-laundering.