Ex-Cong MLA, CBI counsel among those arrested in Adarsh scam

Mumbai, Mar 7: After the setback that the Congress had to face in the elections, the UPA government had to face further embarrassment when a former Maharashtra Congress legislator and his son were arrested in the controversial and multi-crore Adarsh Housing Society scam on Tuesday. A total of 4 arrests were made on Tuesday.

The others who have been arrested in the case are CBI counsel Mandar Goswami and tax consultant J K Jagiasi. The Congress MLA, Kanhaiyalal Gidwani has been accused of paying Rs 1.25 crore to Jagiasi in order to influence the CBI officials investigating the scam.

A spokesperson for the CBI in New Delhi in a written statement said that the ex-MLC entered into a criminal conspiracy and allegedly paid a sum of Rs 1.25 crore to the tax consultant illegally. The effort was to influence the decision on the Adarsh scam.

The accused were presented before a special judge on Tuesday and remanded to police custody till Mar 16.

Jagiasi, who used to file Goswami's income tax returns, apparently gave Rs 25 lakh to Goswami, who is empanelled as special counsel in Union Law Ministry. The CBI got wind of the matter when they arrested Jagiasi on Feb 20 for allegedly demanding a bribe of Rs 25 lakh from an Air India official. The bribe was demanded to dilute a CBI case against him.

During the course of questioning, it was understood that Jagiasi also approached Gidwani to seek a bribe of Rs 1.25 crore. "Prima facie allegations are serious especially against accused Mandar Goswami, who is a public servant. Cash is yet to be recovered. The accused are persons who have knowledge of where the money is and hence custodial interrogation is needed," the court observed.

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