By IANS,
Mumbai/New Delhi: Top bureaucrat Jairaj Phatak, allegedly involved with the Adarsh housing society scam, and his family own four flats in Mumbai, a bungalow in Pune, 22 bank accounts and four bank lockers, the CBI has found during searches of his houses and offices in New Delhi and other cities, an official said Tuesday.
Phatak is a former commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and is at present posted at the central government as chairman of the Rural Electrification Corporation in New Delhi.
In a coordinated operation, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted raids in New Delhi, Mumbai and Pune and found that he owned three bank lockers in Mumbai, which are in the name of his wife and one in the joint name of his wife and daughter-in-law. Another locker is in a bank in New Delhi.
“The searches began around 7 a.m. and we raided two locations in Delhi – his residence at Shahjahan Road and his office at Scope complex in Lodhi Road,” said a CBI official in the national capital.
Phatak and his family members operated as many as 22 bank accounts in different banks, according to the CBI.
The CBI also found a fixed deposit of five million rupees in Phatak’s name in Mumbai, the official said.
At least one of his Mumbai lockers was opened Tuesday at the Bank Of India, Churchgate branch. Investigations related to the other lockers and premises were continuing, an official said.
The findings came at the end of daylong searches carried out at Phatak’s seven premises in Mumbai, New Delhi, Pune and his native place Yavatmal as part of the ongoing CBI probe into the Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society scam.
The CBI operations led to the seizure of several incriminating documents and materials pertaining to Adarsh society, the CBI said.
The agency seized documents related to the possession of several movable and immovable properties, including four flats in Mumbai and one bungalow in Pune.
Phatak was the BMC commissioner at the time and the Adarsh Society got permission to increase its building’s height to 31 floors.
His name figures among the 14 accused in the CBI’s first information report (FIR) filed last month. His son Kanishka is one of the members of the Adarsh society and owns a flat in its building, situated in the prime Colaba area of south Mumbai.
Besides Phatak, the CBI FIR has named several other bigwigs, including former chief minister Ashok Chavan and former Mumbai collector I.A. Kundan, other civil and retired services officers.
The scam claimed the job of the former chief minister after allegations surfaced of collusion between bureaucrats and politicians to corner flats in the society’s 31-storey building.
The flats in the building were originally meant for widows and heroes of the Kargil war.