The order was passed by a bench headed by Justice B H Marlapalle which directed CBI to submit a progress report within three weeks. The investigations were being conducted by the Crime Branch of the Mumbai police after Marine Drive police registered a case on November 26 last year.
The bench, however, clarified that its order does not in any way reflect on the manner in which the Crime Branch carried its probe. The court was hearing petitions filed by Mahendra Singh and others seeking a CBI probe into the Adarsh Housing Society scam.
Observing that a retired driver or a conductor from a remote place in Maharashtra cannot afford to buy a flat in south Mumbai and properties in their names could be benami, the bench also asked CBI to amend the FIR to include The Benami Transactions (probitition) Act, 1988. The act prohibits enforcement of any right by the real owner to recover a property held benami.
In another development, a separate bench of the court sought a response from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest by March 8 to a petition filed by the members of the Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society challenging the notice for demolition of the 31-storey building.
Hearing the petition filed by members of Adarsh challenging the January 16 order, Justice D K Deshmukh asked the MoEF to file its reply by March 8. The petitioners had moved the court on February 14 after the Ministry ordered pulling down the building which it held was built in violation of the spirit of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) laws.
In the case of missing documents, Himanshu Roy, Joint Commissioner of Police, filed an affidavit giving details of the probe conducted by the Crime Branch along with a list of suspects working in the state secretariat.
The file that contained the missing documents originated in Urban Development Department in 1999 and was closed in 2003. It was reported missing on October 28, 2010, and reappeared there after four days.
Roy said in the affidavit that photocopy of documents made available to the Crime Branch prima facie revealed that the entire noting portion and four pages of correspondence related to road widening and CRZ clearance had gone missing or were stolen.
He said the Crime Branch interrogated 66 persons/witnesses from the secretariat and other places and recorded 40 statements of people including present and past Mantralaya staff. The police peronnel manning the gates and PWD staff responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of buildings were also questioned.
Besides, the cell phone records of the secretariat staff were scrutinised.