CBI gets Governor’s nod to prosecute Chavan
It’s a rocky road ahead for the former CM, with Cong high command busy with its own issues.
Four years after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) named former chief minister Ashok Chavan in its chargesheet in the Adarsh housing scam, Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao has given his assent to the agency to prosecute him.
The joint director of CBI had written to the Governor on October 8, 2015, seeking permission to prosecute Chavan under Section 197 of the CrPC, on the basis of fresh evidence, which consisted of the Justice Patil inquiry commission report and the Bombay High Court’s observations in the case in 2014.
The decision is a hammer blow to the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) chief, who will be tried for criminal conspiracy (Section 120B) and cheating (Section 420) under the Indian Penal Code for his role in the scam, if the CBI has its way. At the time the scandal was unearthed in 2010, he had to resign as chief minister for the favours he allegedly took as revenue minister.
This time, while he may not have to wash his hands of the post of MPCC chief, he is in for a long and lonely battle.
No help from capital
This paper has learnt from sources close to the politician that he will put up a tough fight, but without any assistance from New Delhi, where the party’s central leadership is busy tackling its own problems. This much was evident at the Congress HQ yesterday, where party functionaries were busy holding prep meetings for an MNREGA convention, with little time to spare to defend Chavan.
An All India Congress Committee spokesman said, “Since he himself has been articulating his defence, we did not feel any need to hold a special briefing.”
Party sources said it was only fair he fight his own battle. "The central leadership cannot be dragged into corruption issues of state leaders, as they themselves have problems galore. Chavan took the flats for his relatives. He should face the flak himself,” the source said.
Not all find this treatment entirely just. A Union minister told this paper that Chavan would not have got into this mess but for former defence minister AK Antony. “If Antony had not ordered a CBI probe, Chavan would not be in trouble today,” he said.
But at least, he will not be fired. A source from the party’s state unit revealed: “The case may keep him busy until the next state elections, but the party is no mood to sack him, largely because they do not have an alternative to replace him.”
Chavan was to fly to New Delhi last night to meet party boss Sonia Gandhi.
The Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society first made headlines six years ago. Chavan allegedly gave his tacit consent to several regulatory violations perpetrated during the construction of the 30-storey tower — meant for Kargil war veterans and widows — at the city’s posh Cuffe Parade, in exchange for three apartments for his relatives. What nailed him was the apartment taken in the name of his mother-inlaw, Bhagwati Sharma, now deceased. She had also got another one in Powai under the CM’s quota.
Justice J A Patil, who headed the probe panel, said, “I had said that our report was not binding and the government could reject it, and they did. Now, the authorities have done a rethink.”
As far as gubernatorial assent goes, Chavan got second time unlucky. After the CBI’s chargesheet in 2012, then Governor K Sankaranarayanan had not granted permission for his prosecution. Mirror called up the former governor yesterday, and he said, “When the case was presented before me, the evidence was not sufficient. I don’t know the present situation.”
It was learnt that since Chavan is an elected MP, the CBI will also have to seek the Lok Sabha Speaker’s permission to prosecute him.
IT’S VENDETTA POLTICS: CHAVAN
When Mumbai Mirror caught up with Ashok Chavan in Palghar on Thursday, where he was campaigning for his party candidate Rajendra Gavit for the February 13 bypolls, the minister sounded incredulous. He felt like yet another quarry in a political witch hunt.
“This is nothing but political vendetta. There is a pattern to it; the Centre goes after Congressmen, as it has done with Sachin Pilot, Virbhadra Singh and Digvijay Singh,” Chavan said. “The BJP government has let loose the CBI on me when there is no such provision in the law (for reprobe). The agency is under pressure from the government at the Centre and the State,” he said.
He further states that the allegations are false and the grounds of the case are untenable. “Where is the need of a reprobe by CBI when the former governor had closed the case? The incumbent governor cannot take such a step.”
Regardless (or perhaps ignorant) of the central leadership’s remarks that he was on his own for the legal tussle ahead, the Nanded MP did not feel he had been left to fend for himself. “A couple of days ago, when CBI had approached the Governor for permission, Randeep Singh Surjewala had issued a statement. That’s enough for me,” he told Mirror. Asked if he’d tender his resignation as MPCC chief, he did not hesitate before saying no: “Why should I? This is not a public post.”
NOT FIT TO LEAD, SAY STATE CONGRESSMEN
After his fall from grace in 2010, Chavan reclaimed his lost esteem in the state by withstanding ‘the Modi wave’ in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. He and Rajiv Satav were the two Congress MPs who got elected from the state. But Chavan has lost whatever ground he had recovered, at least in the eyes of his colleagues in Maharashtra. State leaders feel he is not suitable to head the PCC. “He functions more like a faction leader out of the Tilak Bhawan office,” said a Congress leader from Pune. Sources said that with the taints on Chavan and Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil — the Leader of the Opposition, who was earlier in the eye of a controversy for running a number of educational institutions — Congress in Maharashtra has no strength to take on the BJP. Partymen are missing Prithiviraj Chavan, who at least has a clean image to take on the BJP-Sena government.
Four years after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) named former chief minister Ashok Chavan in its chargesheet in the Adarsh housing scam, Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao has given his assent to the agency to prosecute him.
The joint director of CBI had written to the Governor on October 8, 2015, seeking permission to prosecute Chavan under Section 197 of the CrPC, on the basis of fresh evidence, which consisted of the Justice Patil inquiry commission report and the Bombay High Court’s observations in the case in 2014.
Before giving the green signal, Governor Rao sought the Cabinet’s advice, which was in favour of the action. To make the case foolproof, Rao also consulted state advocate general Sreehari Aney over the course of three meetings.
The decision is a hammer blow to the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) chief, who will be tried for criminal conspiracy (Section 120B) and cheating (Section 420) under the Indian Penal Code for his role in the scam, if the CBI has its way. At the time the scandal was unearthed in 2010, he had to resign as chief minister for the favours he allegedly took as revenue minister.
This time, while he may not have to wash his hands of the post of MPCC chief, he is in for a long and lonely battle.
No help from capital
This paper has learnt from sources close to the politician that he will put up a tough fight, but without any assistance from New Delhi, where the party’s central leadership is busy tackling its own problems. This much was evident at the Congress HQ yesterday, where party functionaries were busy holding prep meetings for an MNREGA convention, with little time to spare to defend Chavan.
An All India Congress Committee spokesman said, “Since he himself has been articulating his defence, we did not feel any need to hold a special briefing.”
Party sources said it was only fair he fight his own battle. "The central leadership cannot be dragged into corruption issues of state leaders, as they themselves have problems galore. Chavan took the flats for his relatives. He should face the flak himself,” the source said.
Not all find this treatment entirely just. A Union minister told this paper that Chavan would not have got into this mess but for former defence minister AK Antony. “If Antony had not ordered a CBI probe, Chavan would not be in trouble today,” he said.
But at least, he will not be fired. A source from the party’s state unit revealed: “The case may keep him busy until the next state elections, but the party is no mood to sack him, largely because they do not have an alternative to replace him.”
Chavan was to fly to New Delhi last night to meet party boss Sonia Gandhi.
The Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society first made headlines six years ago. Chavan allegedly gave his tacit consent to several regulatory violations perpetrated during the construction of the 30-storey tower — meant for Kargil war veterans and widows — at the city’s posh Cuffe Parade, in exchange for three apartments for his relatives. What nailed him was the apartment taken in the name of his mother-inlaw, Bhagwati Sharma, now deceased. She had also got another one in Powai under the CM’s quota.
Justice J A Patil, who headed the probe panel, said, “I had said that our report was not binding and the government could reject it, and they did. Now, the authorities have done a rethink.”
As far as gubernatorial assent goes, Chavan got second time unlucky. After the CBI’s chargesheet in 2012, then Governor K Sankaranarayanan had not granted permission for his prosecution. Mirror called up the former governor yesterday, and he said, “When the case was presented before me, the evidence was not sufficient. I don’t know the present situation.”
It was learnt that since Chavan is an elected MP, the CBI will also have to seek the Lok Sabha Speaker’s permission to prosecute him.
IT’S VENDETTA POLTICS: CHAVAN
When Mumbai Mirror caught up with Ashok Chavan in Palghar on Thursday, where he was campaigning for his party candidate Rajendra Gavit for the February 13 bypolls, the minister sounded incredulous. He felt like yet another quarry in a political witch hunt.
“This is nothing but political vendetta. There is a pattern to it; the Centre goes after Congressmen, as it has done with Sachin Pilot, Virbhadra Singh and Digvijay Singh,” Chavan said. “The BJP government has let loose the CBI on me when there is no such provision in the law (for reprobe). The agency is under pressure from the government at the Centre and the State,” he said.
He further states that the allegations are false and the grounds of the case are untenable. “Where is the need of a reprobe by CBI when the former governor had closed the case? The incumbent governor cannot take such a step.”
Regardless (or perhaps ignorant) of the central leadership’s remarks that he was on his own for the legal tussle ahead, the Nanded MP did not feel he had been left to fend for himself. “A couple of days ago, when CBI had approached the Governor for permission, Randeep Singh Surjewala had issued a statement. That’s enough for me,” he told Mirror. Asked if he’d tender his resignation as MPCC chief, he did not hesitate before saying no: “Why should I? This is not a public post.”
NOT FIT TO LEAD, SAY STATE CONGRESSMEN
After his fall from grace in 2010, Chavan reclaimed his lost esteem in the state by withstanding ‘the Modi wave’ in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. He and Rajiv Satav were the two Congress MPs who got elected from the state. But Chavan has lost whatever ground he had recovered, at least in the eyes of his colleagues in Maharashtra. State leaders feel he is not suitable to head the PCC. “He functions more like a faction leader out of the Tilak Bhawan office,” said a Congress leader from Pune. Sources said that with the taints on Chavan and Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil — the Leader of the Opposition, who was earlier in the eye of a controversy for running a number of educational institutions — Congress in Maharashtra has no strength to take on the BJP. Partymen are missing Prithiviraj Chavan, who at least has a clean image to take on the BJP-Sena government.
