Chavan’s kin deposes before Adarsh panel

The panel took note of six demand drafts,all of which,Sharma said,were given by Shah on his behalf. The six demand drafts put together amount to more than Rs 59 lakh.

According to records of the IT department,Bhagwati Sharma,mother-in-law of Ashok Chavan,had also taken a loan of more than Rs 65 lakh from Malav. Interestingly,according to the same records,Malav himself had taken a “loan” of Rs 10.95 lakh from his father,Jayant Shah.

On Wednesday,Sharma also said,“I do not know Shri Malav Shah personally. I,however,know his grandfather Hiralal Shah. He is a family friend.”

Sharma later told the panel that he has returned Rs 24 lakh to Shah,out of which 14 lakh are said to have been paid from his fixed deposits and the rest raised through selling his property in Thane district.

During his deposition,he was asked a question by the chairman of the commission Justice (Retd) J A Patil as to why he applied for a flat in the Adarsh society although he owned a flat in Andheri.

To this he replied,“My sister-in-law Mrs Bhagwati Sharma was totally crippled in the sense that she was suffering from many diseases. Therefore,in order to have the family together,I decided to buy a flat.”

He,however,said he resigned from membership of the society because alleged irregularities brought out by the print and electronic media were “causing embarrassment to us.”