MUMBAI (TIP): The CBI, probing the Adarsh society case,said that there was nothing on record to show that Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde had a role in the alleged scam by allotting flats to ineligible members. The Colaba tower has come up next to defence establishments. The CBI on September 19 made a plea in the high court to dismiss an application filed by Pravin Wategaonkar, who had filed a PIL seeking a probe by Enforcement Directorate for alleged benami transactions over flat allotments, in the tower 31-storey sea-facing residential tower in Colaba, had seeking to include Shinde’s name in the criminal case. But CBI said, “There is nothing on record to suggest that Shinde insisted on 51 more members by substituting ineligible members before the land was given to the society resulting in addition of benami members.” CBI officer K Babu filed an affidavit and said the probe into benami transaction is on. Wategaonkar had sought details and a probe into allotment of a flat to a family member of a retired army major N W Khankhoje.

He had suggested that Shinde may have suggested Khankhoje’s name. The CBI said Major Khankhoje who had retired in 1977 had learnt of Adarsh and applied in 2004 for a membership after ”gathering information from Army sources” . He had asked his son Kiran who also retired from the Indian Navy as a captain in 1996 to join Air India as a pilot to arrange for the flat payment. Kiran’s wife Devyani is a vice president in a large private sector group company. The CBI said ”while it may be true that the membership was pursued by K L Gidwani a politician and another Adarsh member, it can’t be confirmed at this stage since both Gidwani and Major Khankhoje have since expired.” But the CBI said that “investigation does not reveal any family relationship between Khankhoje and Shinde”. Wategaonkar also filed a fresh affidavit pointing to internal file notings of 2004 bearing Shinde’s signature as then CM of Maharashtra. The CBI and state sought two weeks time to study and reply to the fresh affidavit and the HC adjourned the matter by a week to next Thursday. Wategaonkar filed a fresh affidavit pointing to internal file notings of 2004 bearing Shinde’s signature as then CM. The CBI and state sought two weeks time to reply to the fresh affidavit. The HC adjourned the matter to next Thursday.