Adarsh scam: Senior bureaucrat’s home raided by CBI

A team of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials raided the Nigdi residence of senior bureaucrat Jairaj Moreshwar Phatak last morning in connection with his alleged role in the Adarsh scam

Adarsh scam: Senior bureaucrat's home raided by CBI

Au00a0team of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials raided the Nigdi residence of senior bureaucrat Jairaj Moreshwar Phatak last morning in connection with his alleged role in the Adarsh scam.

In his capacity as municipal commissioner of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, Phatak had allegedly given administration-level clearances to the controversial project.

According to the FIR lodged by the CBI, Phatak was heading a committee which gave clearances to highrises in the megapolis and had approved a proposal of the building's height being increased to 127 meters from 97 metres on September 1, 2007.

The FIR states that Phatak's son, Kanishka, is also among the 103 people who own a flat in the controversial building.

Morning raid
The CBI team arrived at Pushkaraj bungalow in the Pradhikaran area of Nigdi around 10 am. A search was conducted for about half an hour and CBI officials were seen stepping out of the bungalow with a file. Some policemen attached to the Pune division of the Anti-Corruption Bureau were also part of the search operation.
A person closely related to the Phatak family came with the keys before the search operation started but the CBI officials had to reportedly wait for three hours before they got two witnesses required to start the raid. Inspector Swati Desai, who was part of the operation, declined to comment. "We are not authorised to speak to the media," she said.
A local resident said, "Phatak's son stayed at the bungalow for two years while he was studying here. Phatak had purchased this property during his tenure as the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Commissioner in 1987. The bungalow was rented out to some other family for six years and then to a firm eighteen months ago. The firm's owners vacated the bungalow only three weeks back."
Superintendent of Police Vidya Kulkarni said, "The investigating officers handling this case had asked us to provide additional staff, which we did. CBI operations are always single command operations and only investigating officers are authorised to speak to the media."