CBI searches officers named in Adarsh FIR

Two flats and a office of Gidwani and three houses of R C Thakur in Thane,Nagpur and Bihar were raided. In the evening,the Thane residence of Urban Development Department official P V Deshmukh’s house was also raided. A senior CBI official said were likely to summoning some of these persons for questioning later.

During the search the CBI officers recovered desktop computers,laptops and some documents. “The electronic items would be sent to Hyderabad and Delhi for forensic examination,” said the CBI source.

While searches at Thakur’s residences in Bihar,Nagpur and Thane are over,the operations at Tiwari’s house in Mumbai continued till late in the evening.

In Pune,Wanchoo’s house in Salunke Vihar as well as his son-in-law’s house nearby were searched.

The CBI team also carried out searches at Gidwani’s house in Worli. “CBI officials were present my place as part of their investigations. For over five to six hours on Sunday morning they searched the house extensively and also questioned me on various issues. I cooperated with them and will continue to do so in the future,” said Gidwani,refusing to elaborate on the questions posed or the documents seized from his house. “I cannot comment on it since the matter is sub judice,” he said.

CBI sources claimed Thakur,Wanchoo and Gidwani were the prime movers in building the society. Thakur was then sub-divisional officer at the Defence Estate Office of Mumbai,while Gidwani,a former Congress MLC,was the chief promoter of the society. The FIR has been filed under various sections of the IPC including criminal conspiracy,cheating,and forgery and showing forged document as genuine besides sections pertaining to Prevention of Corruption Act.