As murky as it gets. That is how one can sum up the unfolding housing scam in Mumbai where the flats meant for the Kargil War heroes were allocated to the relatives of top political brasses.
According to investigations by major Indian news channels, at least three former chief ministers of Maharashtra were involved in the allotments of the Adarsh Housing Society in Colaba complex besides the incumbent Ashok Chavan.
Former chief ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh, Sushil Kumar Shinde and Narayan Rane not just gave clearances to the controversial building, but also have helped in the allotments to their chosen ones, reported NDTV.
Vilasrao Deshmukh’s associates Amol V Kharbhari, Kiran Bhadange and Uttam Ghakare figure on the list of 104 allottees, the channels-NDTV and CNN IBN- reported.
Deshmukh, who is now the Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, denied the charge. He told NDTV he had not recommended to anyone.
Former Chief Minister Narayan Rane, who is now state revenue minister, gave initial permission to Adarsh in 1999 and he recommended two people – Girish Mehta and Rupali Rao Rane, said CNN IBN.
Former Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde was also one of the former chief ministers tainted in the scam.
As CM in 2004 he gave final approval to Adarsh and recommended a flat to Major Khankoje, the report said.
Present chief minister Ashok Chavan recommended his mother-in-law, (Bhagwati Manohari Lal Sharma) sister-in-law (Seema Vinod Sharma and brother-in-law (Jagdish Ambika Prasad Sharma), according to TV reports.
The channels said top NCP leaders like Ajit Pawar, Jayant Patil and Anil Deshmukh are figured in the controversy.
The news channel Times Now has also hinted at an Army-builder nexus in the scam. The channel’s on going investigation has exposed the open collusion between army officials and the housing society being investigated by the Defence Ministry and the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), it said.
Former Army chiefs General N C Vij and Deepak Kapoor earlier said they would surrender their flats in Mumbai’s allotment-scam hit housing society where the accommodations were originally meant for the Kargil War widows and families.
General Vij told TV channels that he would also give up the membership of Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society, which is turning out to be a Pandora’s Box of corrupt allocation of flats.
Earlier, former Navy chief Admiral Madhvendra Singh had also expressed his desire to return the flat along with General Deepak Kapoor and N.C. Vij, reports quoting the latter said.
Sucked into the controversy over corrupt allotment of flats meant for Kargil War widows in Mumbai, Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan on Saturday offered to resign from his post before Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi, though a final call on the issue is awaited from the party high command.
The Congress has appointed a two-member panel comprising senior ministers Pranab Mukherjee and A K Antony to look into the affair while the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has demanded immediate resignation of Chavan.