Mumbai, May 29 (IANS): A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court Tuesday granted bail to seven of the nine people arrested for their alleged involvement in the Adarsh Housing Society scam in March and April.
The seven accused are Maj. Gen. (retd) A.R. Kumar, Maj. Gen. (retd) T.K. Kaul, retired defence estates officer R.C. Thakur, Brig. (retd) M.M. Wanchoo, former IAS officers P.V. Deshmukh and Pradeep Vyas and former Congress politician Kanhaiyalal Gidwani.
The bail was granted on a surety of Rs.50,000 each.
All the accused had sought bail on the ground that CBI had not filed a chargesheet even 60 days after arresting them. The central probe agency claimed it had 30 more days to act.
The CBI had Monday opposed bail to the seven accused stating that it was examining additional stringent charges which could be slapped on them and that it had 90 days to file the chargesheet and not 60 as claimed by the accused.
Over a year after the CBI registered a case against 14 persons in the scam and two months after making the first of nine arrests, the agency is likely to add two new charges against the accused.
Many top army officials and politicians, including former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan, are alleged to have facilitated clearances for the building and received flats in it as quid pro quo.
The scam involves a prime plot in South Mumbai's Colaba area on which a 31-storey building was constructed by the society.