The investigation into the Adarsh society scam took another twist on Saturday with the disclosure that some more files related to the housing society had gone missing from the ministry of environment and forest.
The investigation into the Adarsh society scam took another twist on Saturday with the disclosure that some more files related to the housing society had gone missing from the ministry of environment and forest (MoEF). The MoEF will now attempt to “reconstruct” the correspondence as well as the notings on the files, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Three months ago, a file related to Adarsh had gone missing from the Urban Development Department (UDD). It later mysteriously reappeared, with at least four of its pages with important notings missing. The crime branch of the city police named five employees of UDD as suspects. However, the case was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for investigation by the High Court. The CBI finally arrested three persons from the UDD on May 5.
According to sources, when a CBI official went to the MoEF last week in order to get the files related to the case, he was told that they were ‘untraceable’. The MoEF subsequently initiated an internal inquiry into the matter.
TCBI sources said that although the files had been missing from 2009, the MoEF had not lodged any complaint. The sources said that the MoEF had now assured the CBI that they would try to figure out the contents of the file by ‘reconstructing’ the entire correspondence with different agencies.
The sources said that the missing files include the 2003 correspondence, forwarded by the UDD to the MoEF, seeking the mandatory CRZ clearances for the project. The MoEF had then sent the files back to the state, stating that as per the law, it first required the clearance from the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA).
The MoEF, under the leadership of environment minister Jairam Ramesh, has been very critical of Adarsh society and even called for its demolition. It is strange, therefore, that the MoEF did not bring up the matter of the missing file in front of the judicial panel or the CBI, the sources pointed out.
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