Mumbai: Nearly two months after he was charge-sheeted in the Adarsh housing society scam, former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan on Monday moved the Bombay High Court seeking quashing of the cheating and corruption case registered against him by the CBI.
Chavan and 12 others were charge-sheeted by the CBI on July 4 with the Congress leader being accused of granting some approvals to the housing society in upscale Colaba as quid-pro-quo for allotment of three flats to his kin.
In his petition filed under section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the former chief minister has reiterated the stand taken by the Maharashtra government that the CBI does not have jurisdiction to probe the matter as neither the state government not the high court had handed over the case to the premier investigating agency.
"CBI in the present case has transgressed into the exclusive domain of the state and the state police," the petition states.
Seeking quashing and setting aside the case, Chavan has said he has been wrongly named in the FIR and that there was a political conspiracy to keep him out of public affairs. He has also prayed the court to restrain the CBI from initiating any action against him.Despite being charge-sheeted, Chavan has not been arrested in the case in which most accused had been arrested and released on bail.
"The allegation that the applicant (Chavan) had asked for civilians to be included in Adarsh society has been made with an ulterior motive. The society had decided to induct civilians as members in 1999 itself," the petition claims.
It further states that allotment of land to the society and approval of membership occurred a year after Chavan ceased to be state's revenue minister.
Chavan's mother-in-law Bhagvati Sharma, sister-in-law Seema Sharma and father-in-law's brother Madanlal Sharma have flats in the society.
According to CBI, Chavan misused his official position twice - first as revenue minister and then as chief minister - to show undue favours to the society.
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