MUMBAI: A fresh cloud of controversy has developed over the Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society (ACHS) scam. At least four pages of a file dealing specifically with the reduction of the width of Prakash Pethe Marg - the road that was cut down to make space for the tower - have gone missing. The pages contained notings by then urban development principal secretary Ramanand Tiwari and former UD deputy secretary P V Deshmukh. Incidentally, Tiwari's son Omkar and P V Deshmukh were allotted flats in the building. When contacted, Tiwari said, ``I had asked for the papers a month ago from the UD department and even I do not have a copy.''
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Pages-go-missing-from-Adarsh-file-/articleshow/7002913.cms
Maharashtra's urban development department on Friday filed an FIR with the Marine Drive police, who registered a case of theft and destruction of key documents. On Saturday, the state government transferred the case to the crime branch.
According to a source, the file was last handled allegedly by a section officer with the UD. It was closed in 2003 and ``kept in a cupboard belonging to one of the deputy secretaries with UD'' from where the pages with notings were stolen.
Gurudutt Madhukar Bajpe, a section officer with the UD department, lodged the complaint under Section 204 (destruction of a document to prevent its production as evidence) and Section 380 (theft) of IPC. Iqbal Shaikh, assistant commissioner of police (Colaba Division) said, "Initially, the entire file was `missing' since June 2010. It was found on November 1 and the UD department realized that four pages were gone.''
UD officials confirmed that the theft was discovered on November 1. According to government sources, the National Coastal Regulation Zone Management Authority had called the heads of the UD, revenue and environment departments to Delhi to discuss the case. It was then that UD department officials discovered that the pages with the notings were missing. "A search was ordered and the entire department was scanned. After a massive hunt, the officials connected with the file submitted in writing that the key notings could not be traced,'' said the source.
The Marine Drive police, however, said their preliminary investigations have shown that the theft came to light only after an activist filed an RTI on the Adarsh case. "Somebody had asked questions through an RTI application. We are investigating who the person is. The answers to those questions were in that file. It was then that the UD department realized the papers were missing.''
The theft highlights the fact that the UD department does not have an organized or even secure filing system. Most of the files are in open cabinets or kept on the floor wrapped in red cloth, said a senior official. Some department officials claim they had asked the police to file an FIR as early as November 19. Fearing political repercussions, the cops only registered a case of missing documents. It was only after chief minister Prithviraj Chavan was briefed on the matter that it was decided that an FIR should be filed.
Crime branch officials and the CBI said it was too early to discuss the impact of the missing file. Commenting on the state government's decision to transfer the case to the crime branch, a senior officer said, ``This case has several technical limitations pertaining to CRZ norms, revenue laws etc. A specialized team, well versed in such issues, may be given the responsibility to investigate the theft.'' TOI has learnt that the crime branch may create a special team comprising officers from the property cell, detection crime branch and the economic offences wing to head the case.
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