Adarsh scam: BMC ex-chief Phatak in CBI net

The Central Bureau of Investigation today searched the homes and offices of senior bureaucrat Jairaj Phatak in New Delhi, Pune and Mumbai in connection with Mumbai's now infamous Adarsh Housing Society scam. Formerly a former commissioner of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Phatak is now posted as additional secretary, rural electrification department, under the union government. 

The CBI teams came down on Phatak's premises early this morning, a day after getting sanction from the centre to prosecute the 1978-batch IAS officer. 

The agency had registered an FIR in the scam on 29 January. Phatak was named in the list of people awaiting sanction for prosecution as he was a ranking officer, whom the agency could not prosecute without permission from the central government. 

Phatak's son Kanishka is among the 103 members who own an apartment in Adarsh Society in Mumbai's upmarket Colaba area. Originally meant for widows and orphans of war widows, the building was illegally increased in height, and the flats were handed over to politically connected persons as well as senior armed forces officers, some of them still serving.

As BMC commissioner, Phatak had not exactly covered himself in glory – at least in the eyes of dispassionate observers. ''His only achievement was to ensure that all bills (including electricity bills from the BEST) and other essential forms are issued only in Marathi – so half of Mumbai can't understand them,'' pointed out a politics student. ''He is nothing but a full-fledged parochial; one of the many in positions of power whose only agenda is to send this once-great city back into the dark ages.''

Ashok Chavan deep in it
Former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan is one of the 13 people named by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Adarsh scam, defence minister A K Antony told Parliament on Monday. In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, he gave the details of the persons against whom regular cases have been registered following a preliminary inquiry by the CBI.