The CBI has conducted searches in Maharashtra and Bihar at the premises of five accused in the Adarsh housing scam. The searches were conducted at the residences of the society's general secretary R C Thakur, retired Brigadier M M Wanchoo and Congress leader K L Gidwani and former Principal Secretary of Urban Development Department Ramanand Tiwari in the two states on Sunday. The CBI also searched the residence of former Deputy Secretary P V Deshmukh. He was Deputy Secretary in Maharashtra Urban Development Ministry when the scam took place. While Thakur's residences were searched in Bihar’s Patna, Madhubani and Darbhanga, Nagpur and Thane, houses of Tiwari and Gidwani were searched at Mumbai. Wanchoo's residence The office of the Adarsh society located in posh Colaba in Mumbai was also searched. The searches were carried out a day after the CBI filed an FIR against 13 people for their alleged involvement in the Adarsh scam. A senior CBI official said that Thakur, Wanchoo and Gidwani were not present at the premises when the searches were conducted and CBI is likely to issue notices to the trio summoning them for questioning. The CBI sources said that computers, laptops and some documents were seized from the premises which will be analysed by the sleuths. The electronic items would be sent to Hyderabad and Delhi for examination of the hard disk. Among others, the FIR also names retired Lt General P K Rampal, Major Generals A R Kumar and T K Kaul, the then Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Subash Lala and the then collector of Mumbai, Pradeep Vyas. The agency had registered a preliminary inquiry into the scam in November last year. The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests had on January 16 ordered demolition of the building within three months, holding it as “unauthorised” and built in violation of the spirit of coastal regulations. The 31-storey building with 103 flats was built on prime defence land in alleged violation of rules. The building was originally meant to be a six-storey structure.