Claiming to have foiled a conspiracy to bribe public servants for diluting charges in the multi-crore Adarsh Housing Society scam, the CBI today arrested its own lawyer and a former Congress MLC, who is already an accused in the scam.
Four persons – former MLC Kanhaiyalal Gidwani, his son Kailash, CBI counsel Mandar Goswami and tax consultant J.K. Jagiasi – were arrested in the bribe case and produced before a special CBI court which remanded them in the agency's custody till March 16.
According to CBI, the Gidwanis had paid a bribe of Rs 1.25 crore to Jagiasi, who had boasted of close links with CBI officers, including Goswami, to weaken the charges levelled against them in the Adarsh scam.
A CBI spokesperson in New Delhi said in a written statement that the accused persons entered into a criminal conspiracy and the ex-MLC paid a sum of Rs 1.25 crore to the tax consultant illegally, in a bid to attempt to influence CBI officials in an ongoing investigation of the Adarsh Housing Society Case.
Jagiasi, who used to file Goswami's income tax returns, in turn gave Rs 25 lakh to Goswami, who is empanelled as special counsel in Union Law Ministry.
The CBI stumbled upon the case with the arrest of Jagiasi first on February 20 for allegedly demanding a bribe of Rs 25 lakh from an Air India official, accused in a CBI case, for dilution of the charges against him. During his questioning, it was learnt that Jagiasi had also approached Gidwani seeking a bribe of Rs 1.25 crore.
“The four accused entered into a criminal conspiracy wherein the accused in the Adarsh scam paid bribe to Jagiasi who in turn gave some of the money to Goswami, who has appeared for CBI in Adarsh matter before the Bombay High Court,” special public prosecutors Ejaz Khan and Bharat Badami told the court.