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Adarsh Society scam: Deshmukh, Shinde, Rane are
When will
all in it too Isro launch
Published: Sunday, Oct 31, 2010, 3:13 IST Oceansat-
By Rajshri Mehta | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA 2?
Speak
Chief Minister Ashok Chavan’s kith and kin are not the only beneficiaries of the scam
involving allotment of flats in the Adarsh Co-operative Housing Society in Colaba. Up »
Three former CMs — Vilasrao Deshmukh, Sushilkumar Shinde and Narayan Rane — + - If you had
all of whom have been, ironically enough, potential contenders for Chavan’s post and at Related links doubts
some point served as the sanctioning authority for the project, also stand accused of
owning flats under ‘benami’ names in Adarsh. • Civic body to recession
spend Rs482 is
cr to repair just 50km of
roads
not over,
Deshmukh, who is currently the union minister for heavy industries, reportedly owns • If you had doubtsthen read
recession
three apartments — each one a 3-BHK of 1,076 sq ft carpet area — on the 15th floor.
The flats (1502, 1503 and 1504) are in the names of Uttam Ghakare, Kiran Bhadange
thisthis
is not over, then read
• Green violation at Mumbai
and Amol Kharbari — real or fictitious individuals whose relationship with Deshmukh project lands DBInterview
Realty in
is not clear. trouble
• »
Prithviraj Chavan meets
Union power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde is said to own a 3-BHK flat in the name of PM; demands taxForest
Major NW Khankhoje, while former state revenue minister Shivajirao Patil Nilengakar crimes
exemption for sugarcane
allegedly owns two flats in the name of Dr Arun V Dawle and Sampat R Khidse (flat no farmers
2602). • Diamonds stolenincreasing
from bank
lockers in Mumbai at using
alarming
The Adarsh gravy train has more members on board: Maharashtra revenue minister duplicate keys rate, says
Narayan Rane too is accused of owning two 3-BHK flats on the 17th floor, in the name
Gallery Rajendra
of Girish Pravinchandra Mehta and Rupali Dhongde
Harishchandra Raorane. Also, Archana Tiwari, a doctor with Bombay Hospital,
reportedly got a flat in Adarsh by virtue of being a good friend of Ratnakar Gaikwad,
commissioner of Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA).

The project had been approved by Chavan himself in 2002 when he was the revenue
minister. Deshmukh, as the then CM, had given the initial permissions for the
construction of Adarsh Society, while Shinde, when he was the CM in 2004, gave the Mumbai Marathon 2011
final sanction for the project.
View more
interviews »
When contacted, Deshmukh denied the allegations. “None of my relatives or party
workers or friends own a flat in the society,” he said. Rane told DNA, “I only facilitated
the treatment of two defense officials as ‘special cases’, as they did not have domicile of Blogs »
15 years in Maharashtra. Their cases were taken up before the cabinet for approval.”
Nilangekar and Shinde were unavailable for comment. Why
Set up supposedly with the aim of “accommodating and rewarding the heroes of the
Kargil operation and those who had laid down their lives for the protection of the politicians
motherland,” if one looks at the initial list of society members of the Adarsh Co- build
operative Housing Society, it comprised 40 members and included mostly defence education
personnel. Now the list stands at 103, out of which only 37 members belong to the army
and just three members have anything to do with the Kargil war. trusts, not
rural
Meanwhile, two of Chavan’s relatives who had been allotted flats in Adarsh, his sister- hospitals
in-law Seema Sharma and brother-in-law Madanlal Sharma, resigned from the society
on Friday. Chavan’s mother-in-law Bhagwati Sharma was also a member of the society,
but she passed away earlier this year. - Abhay
Vaidya
The Adarsh hall of shame View more
Some of the bureaucrats and politicians who are accused of fraudulently obtaining flats blogs »
for themselves or their relatives:
Ashok Chavan, chief minister, Maharashtra Jairaj Phatak, ex-municipal commissioner
(flat in the name of his son Kanishka J Phatak) Ramanand Tiwari, state information C.
commissioner (in the name of son, Onkar Tiwari) Suresh Prabhu, Shiv Sena (own Opinion »
name) Pradeep Vyas, ex-collector, Mumbai ( in the name of his wife and fellow IAS • Corp
officer Seema Vyas) Jitender Awhad, NCP (own name) Indris Kundan, ex-ollector, orate
Mumbai (own name) s
Kanhaiyalal Gidwani, Congress (along with 2 sons, Kailash and Amit) Uttam chall
Khobragade, BEST GM (in the name of daughter, Devyani, an Indian Foreign Service enge
official) Babasaheb Kupekar, Congress (own name) DK Sankaran, Ex-chief secretary govt
(in the name of daughter, Devyani) Shriniwas Patil, NCP (own name) corru
CS Sangitrao, ex-collector, suburban (in the name of son, Ranjit ption
Krishnarao Patil, Congress SC Deshmukh, Collector, Pune (own name) Arun Pawar, • Short
ex-income tax commissioner (own name) -term
meas
PV Deshmukh, secretary, urban development (own name).
ures
are
the
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D.

Zeenews Bureau

Mumbai: Amid growing anger over the Adarsh Housing Society scam, the Army is all set to begin its
own probe into the controversial allotment of flats to its retired and serving officers.

The Army, for now, has sought legal opinion on setting up a Court of Inquiry (CoI) into the issue and
will likely issue orders for the same in a day or two.

The Army probe will focus on the role of some 40 officers.

There are also reports that the Army has already submitted a
preliminary probe report to the Ministry of Defence and is awaiting its nod to take the investigation
further.
The allotment of flats to officials of the armed forces, as well as to kins of politicians created furore
after it came to light that the land on which the Society is built was originally meant for Kargil war
widows.

The Society in upscale Colaba was originally meant to be a six-storey structure to house Kargil war
heroes and widows, but due to collusion of corrupt politicians and Army officials got converted into a
31-storey building.

The development came amid continuing suspense over the fate of embattled Maharashtra Chief
Minister Ashok Chavan with a high-level Congress committee tasked to give a report on the housing
scam saying it would need "more time" to do its job.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, heading the two-member committee, met fellow panel member
Defence Minister AK Antony last night shortly after arrival from Kolkata and said that he would
require some more time to go through the documents and prepare a report for Congress president
Sonia Gandhi.

After Chavan offered to resign on Saturday during a meeting with Gandhi in connection with an
alleged scam in the Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society, Gandhi had appointed a two-member
panel to look into the matter.

TV reports yesterday alleged that more Congress and NCP leaders including three former
Maharashtra chief ministers – Union Heavy Industry Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, Union Power
Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and current Revenue Minister Narayan Rane -- and Maharashtra
minister Ajit Pawar, nephew of NCP supremo Sharad Pawar had links with the controversial upscale
project.

Deshmukh, Rane and Pawar denied the allegations of any links saying they had not recommended
any cases for allotment of flats in the 31-storey housing complex while Shinde accused the media of
making a hue and cry over the issue.

Questions were also being raised in the chief minister's camp as how action can be taken against
Chavan on the Adarsh issue when other Congress leaders from Maharashtra were also allegedly
involved. Chavan spent the day here meeting Congress leaders.

Adarsh society scam: Chavan meets Patel

PTI
SHARE · PRINT · T+
PTIMaharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan addresses a press conference in Mumbai on Friday.

RELATED
NEWS
Chavan offers to resignCRZ notice issued to Adarsh in 2009 itselfA conspiracy to defame me, says Vilasrao
DeshmukhFlats given to civilians at Chavan's behest: lawyerAdarsh Society: CBI seeks details from Navy,
SocietyAdarsh scam: high command summons ChavanAdarsh society: former chiefs offer to return flatsWhy should I
resign, asks Ashok Chavan
TOPICS
IndiaMaharashtra
MaharashtraMumbai
crime, law and justiceinquiry
politicspolitics (general)
state politics
Summoned here in the wake of an embarrassing housing scam, Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok
Chavan met Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Saturday to discuss the issue.
Shortly after he arrived here from Mumbai, Mr. Chavan drove to the 10, Janpath residence of Gandhi
for discussions amidst reports that she was deeply upset over the entire affair including the fact that
three of the Chief Minister’s relatives were allotted flats in the Adarsh Group Housing Society meant
for the families of Kargil war victims.
Defence Minister A.K. Antony, who is in charge of Congress affairs in Maharashtra, Congress
President’s Political Secretary Ahmed Patel, were also present at the meeting.
Accompanied by his wife Amita, Mr. Chavan earlier met Congress President’s Political Secretary
Ahmed Patel.
Ms. Sonia Gandhi also held consultations in the morning with senior party leaders in which
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh was present besides Patel, AICC General Secretary Janardhan
Dwivedi and Union Minister Prithviraj Chavan, who also hails from Maharashtra.
The Congress high command appears to be upset with Mr. Chavan, whose mother-in-law, sister-in-
law and brother-in-law, were among the 103 members of the controversial Adarsh Housing Society
project in which several politicians, former Defence Services chiefs and other influential people have
been allotted flats.
The land was said to have been meant for Kargil war heroes and widows.
The decision to summon Mr. Chavan to the Capital for a meeting with the Congress Chief comes
despite his statement yesterday that flats allotted to his mother-in-law and two other relatives were
being surrendered. This has obviously not impressed the party leadership.
Highly placed sources said last night that Chavan, who became Chief Minister a year ago, is likely to
be asked to step down in the wake of the Adarsh Housing scam.
Mr. Chavan had been involved in clearing papers for the upscale high-rise Adarsh building project in
his previous capacity as the Revenue minister.