MUMBAI: The arrest of former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and other 13 accused in the Adarsh building scam appeared imminent as the Bombay High Court on Monday expressed its displeasure over the investigating agency’s “inaction to arrest” the accused.
Division Bench comprising P B Majmudar and R D Dhanuka warned the CBI of summoning its director to the court if “concrete steps” were not taken before
the next hearing on March 22.
The High Court, which is monitoring the CBI probe through a PIL, has been highly critical of the tardy pace of the probe. On Monday, the High Court while perusing the progress report of the investigation wanted to know why the CBI had not made any arrests so far.
“Why have you (CBI) not arrested any of the accused yet? Are you feeling shy or are you just protecting the accused? If prima facie case is made out against anyone then action should be taken irrespective of who that person is. Delay in such cases can be dangerous,” the Bench observed.
The CBI counsel tried to justify the delay stating that the probe would be completed shortly and arrests made in two months’ time.
The court countered the CBI argument by observing that the agency in several cases have first arrested the accused before the submission of charge sheet.