Housing scam: 61,including state officials,acquitted

Among those acquitted are the then under secretary Vijay N Itkayal,senior officials V D Valvi,V D Naik,S N Gavit and Lalita Itkiyal,other staffers of the state government and Cidco.

A local court has 61 accused,including senior bureaucrats,of fraud in a housing scheme.

Among those acquitted are the then under secretary Vijay N Itkayal,other senior officials V D Valvi,V D Naik,S N Gavit and Lalita Itkiyal,other staffers of the state government and Cidco.

According to prosecution,the officials,largely from Mantralaya,along with a Navi Mumbai-based builder floated Siti Tower Cooperative Housing Society in 1999 and sought assistance of Rs 1.44 crore from the tribal development department to purchase a 16,000-sq ft plot in Nerul.

The first instalment of Rs 92 lakh was released to the society in March 1999. However,an inquiry revealed that the housing society was not registered and the land that they claimed to have purchased at Nerul was originally allotted to 20 CIDCO gardeners at a subsidised rate for their housing project.

Deputy Commissioner of Tribal Development,Thane,had registered the FIR in 2000 against 64 persons. Three accused died during the course of the trial.

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