Mumbai:
The special CBI court, which rejected the bail pleas of the seven accused in the Adarsh Housing Society case last week, has observed that involvement of high-profile persons affected the pace of the probe.
"Because of the high personalities involved, investigation did not take its own pace," observed special judge M V Kulkarni.
On April 4, the judge rejected the bail applications of former Maharashtra legislator K L Gidwani, bureaucrat Pradeep Vyas, Major General (retd) T K Kaul, Major General (retd) A R Kumar, Brigadier (retd) M M Wanchoo, retired Defence Estates Officer R C Thakur and former Deputy Secretary in state Urban Development Department P V Deshmukh.
In the detailed order, which became available today, the court has added that some progress has been made, and the investigation is at a crucial stage.
The accused had sought bail on the ground that investigations were over. But the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said that they might tamper with evidence and threaten witnesses.
The case pertains to alleged irregularities in the construction, and allotment of apartments, in the 31-storey high-rise Adarsh in south Mumbai.