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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National Secretary Kirit Somaiya met Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office (PMO) V. Narayanasamy here on Tuesday and lodged a protest over transfer of the officer, who headed the Adarsh scam probe. "We have met Narayanasamy, the Minister in Prime Ministers Office, and lodged strong protest not only against the delay in dealing, but the manner in which the Government of India's CBI and Enforcement Bureau is mishandling the Adarsh issue. The officer, who filed the chargeheet in Adarsh issue against Ashok Chavan, has been transferred," Somaiya told the media here after the meeting. "Not only that, the Enforcement Directorate has not yet started the investigation. And that's why we demanded that the officer should be brought back. ED should be asked why action is not taken till now," he added. Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan had earlier on July 7 said that transfer of CBI Joint Director Rishi Raj Singh, who headed the Adarsh scam probe, was the prerogative of Central Government and the state government has nothing to do with it. "Transferring a CBI official is not under my domain. You can ask this question (about Singh's transfer) to the concerned ministry in Central government," he said, when asked to comment on the 'abrupt' transfer of Rishi Raj Singh. Singh, a 1985 batch IPS officer of Kerala cadre, was shifted from the Anti-Corruption Branch of the agency to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on July 5, a day after CBI filed its first chargesheet in the Adarsh scam against 13 accused including former chief minister Ashok Chavan. Former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan was among 13 people charged by CBI earlier on July 4 in the multi-crore Adarsh Housing scam. The 10,000-page CBI chargesheet was filed before the registrar of a sessions court, nearly 18 months after the agency registered a case. The Adarsh scam had fuelled a political storm in Maharashtra leading to the resignation of Chavan as the chief minister. The CBI has registered a case on January 29 last year against Chavan and others, which included bureaucrats and retired army personnel. Among the accused are senior politicians, bureaucrats and army officers. The CBI had in March this year arrested nine out of the 14 accused. The nine arrested accused are - R C Thakur, secretary of Adarsh, retired brigadier M M Wanchoo, former Congress MLC Kanhaiyalal Gidwani, both promoters of the society, former deputy secretary of urban development department P V Deshmukh, IAS officers Ramanand Tiwari and Jairaj Phatak, retired major generals A R Kumar and T K Kaul and former city collector Pradeep Vyas. They were released on bail by a special CBI court after CBI failed to file chargesheet within the stipulated 60-day period after arrest. They have been charged with criminal conspiracy, cheating and the Prevention of Corruption. The Adarsh Society was originally meant to be a six-storey housing facility for Kargil war heroes and war widows. It was, however, converted into a 100-metre-tall building and apartments in it were allocated to serving bureaucrats, senior army commanders and relatives of senior politicians.

Adarsh scam probe: Transfer of officer questioned