CBI couldn't suggest even a grain of truth against Chavan: Governor

Poking holes into CBI's evidence against former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan in Adarsh Scam, Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan has said the agency failed to produce evidence which could disclose "even a grain of truth".

On the allegation that inclusion of civilians in the Adarsh Society, meant for Kargil widows and defence personnel, was proposed by Chavan, the Governor said the agency proceeded on a "sheer assumption and conjecture".

"The correspondence collected by CBI itself discloses that the main accused have been engaged in correspondence with various authorities for allotment of land much prior to June 2, 2000," he said in an order provided to former Central Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi under RTI Act

CBI has alleged that Chavan as Revenue Minister became part of criminal conspiracy with main accused on June 2, 2000 during a meeting where he "reportedly proposed" the inclusion of civilians upto a ratio of 40 per cent as members in the society, the order shows.

"Prior to the meeting of June 2, 2000 also it is clear that civilians were part of the proceeding of negotiating/liasoning and were also entertained by the society...It cannot be, therefore, said that it was Chavan who for the first time proposed the inclusion of civilians in the society," the Governor said.

Underlining the phrase used by CBI, Chavan "reportedly proposed" inclusion of civilians, to press its allegations, the Governor said, "In other words the CBI has not been able to collect/produce any evidence at all, leave aside the evidence that would prima-facie disclose even a grain of truth, in this regard. No prima facie case, therefore, exits for this allegation at all."

Based on the denial of sanction to prosecute Chavan, CBI had recently moved the Mumbai special court seeking to drop the name of the former chief minister in the scam case, although that proposal was rejected by the court.