By IANS,
Mumbai : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Wednesday arrested four more people, including two retired army officials, in connection with the Adarsh housing scam, officials said.
“CBI has arrested four more accused named in the FIR in the Adarsh Society case, namely former MLC K.L. Gidwani, Maj. Gen. (Retd.) A.R. Kumar, the then GOC (General Officer Commanding), Maj. Gen. (Retd.) T.K. Kaul, and the then collector of Mumbai, presently working as Secretary (Expenditure) Dept. of Finance in Govt. of Maharashtra, Dr Pradeep Vyas,” a CBI official said.
Kumar was arrested early Wednesday from his Hyderabad residence and produced before a court there for transit remand for being taken to Mumbai.
“Maj. Gen. (Retd.) A.R. Kumar was arrested from Hyderabad and is in transit to Mumbai. All accused would be produced in the court (in Mumbai) tomorrow (Thursday),” the official said.
Gidwani, who was arrested over a week ago in another case being investigated by CBI, was arrested again Wednesday in connection with the Adarsh case. Gidwani was granted bail Tuesday evening by a Mumbai court here.
Gidwani, who was in judicial custody, was arrested as soon as he was released from Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai Wednesday morning.
The scam involves a prime plot in south Mumbai’s Colaba on which a 31-storey building was constructed by the society.
Three officials, namely retired defence estates officer R.C. Thakur, retired brigadier M.M. Wanchoo and former deputy secretary of state urban development department P.V. Deshmukh were arrested Tuesday by the CBI in connection with the scam.
“These three accused were produced today before a special CBI court in Mumbai and have been remanded to police custody till March 31,” the official said.
CBI’s action came after a division bench of the Bombay High Court comprising justices P.B. Majmudar and R.D. Dhanuka had questioned CBI for delaying the arrests in the case.
The Bombay High court had on March 12 rapped CBI for not initiating action against government officials involved in the scam.
The division bench had, on Feb 28, also castigated the Enforcement Directorate for “serious lapse” in failing to initiate investigations against some Adarsh society members allegedly involved in money-laundering.