The Indian Panorama

Tag: Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)

  • 2G: Supreme Court Slams I-T Dept, CBI For Not Acting On Radia Tape Information

    2G: Supreme Court Slams I-T Dept, CBI For Not Acting On Radia Tape Information

    NEW DELHI (TIP): The Supreme Court pulled up the Income Tax department and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for not taking action in the last five years on information gathered from tapped phone conversations of Niira Radia with corporate honchos, politicians and others, saying it is “not a happy situation”. A bench of Justices G S Singhvi and V Gopala Gowda said the conversations were tapped five years back but government authorities remained idle and questioned whether they were waiting for the court’s order to act.

    “The tapping was done five years ago, what have they (government authorities) done so far? Were they waiting for court’s order?,”the bench asked. “It is not a happy situation that action will be taken only after court’s order,” the bench said. It asked the IT department to place before the bench all original records pertaining to authorisation of tapping of Radia’s phones. The court directed the IT department, which had tapped Radia’s phones, to apprise it whether the officers entrusted with the task of tapping had informed their seniors about the contents of the recording and whether CBI was informed about criminality with regard to matters referred to in the conversations.

    The bench directed the IT department to comply with its order by August 6 when the matter will be taken up for further hearing. The conversations were recorded as part of surveillance of Radia’s phone on a complaint to the Finance Minister on November 16, 2007 alleging that within a span of nine years she had built up a business empire worth Rs 300 crore.

    The government had recorded 180 days of Radia’s conversations – first from August 20, 2008 onwards for 60 days and then from October 19 for another 60 days. Later, on May 11, 2009, her phone was again put on surveillance for another 60 days following a fresh order given on May 8.

  • Erosion Of Public Faith

    Erosion Of Public Faith

    “It is a sad commentary on politicians”. The nation’s problem is how to reignite the spirit of confidence and idealism. Alas, no political party, even in the states, comes up to that standard. Whether the next election throws up such people is in the realm of conjecture. Persons like me are still optimistic that India would return to the path of values which it took after winning Independence”, says the author.
    In the penultimate year of nearly onedecade rule by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government, I find the biggest casualty is the people’s confidence in political parties, particularly the ruling Congress. In fact, the public is so exasperated that it has come to believe that dishonesty and politics are synonymous and those who have come to politics have done so only to make money.

    I was aghast to find that many wellplaced people have not contributed to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund because they suspect that the money given for the Uttarakhand victims would be used by the Congress in elections. I can understand the argument that the assistance is mismanaged, but the suspicion about the PM’s Fund should awaken the rulers to the extent that the people have lost faith in them.

    The scandals like the 2G Spectrum regarding the mobiles and the allotment of coal blocks to unknown persons have, no doubt, damaged the credibility of the Congress. But the inference that those in positions, to whichever party they belong, are all corrupt is a sad commentary on politicians. Consequently, there is a question mark against any report or probe conducted by the government. Even a judicial verdict is taken with a pinch of salt.

    The fault is not that of the people, but the manner in which the affairs have been conducted since the seventies. Very little has been done to restore confidence. In fact, official machinery is in disarray. Take the case of Ishrat Jahan encounter. The Home Ministry at the Centre and the state government had taken the stand that Ishrat, along with her three accomplices, were terrorists who were killed in an encounter with the police suspecting them to have a plan to assassinate Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

    The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said that it was a coldblooded murder. The agency found no evidence to involve Pakistan and Lashkar-e-Toiba which the Intelligence Bureau (IB) had done. Who does the public believe? Both the CBI and the IB are parts of the same government. The public is further confused because the CBI has alleged that Ishrat and her accomplices were picked up from different places and shot dead.

    The weapons they had on them were allegedly planted by the police and none of these had been used for days. Assume that Ishrat and the others were terrorists. Does the police force have the right to kill them without proving in a law court that they were terrorists? If this rule is to apply, the killers of Mrs. Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi should have been shot dead in encounters instead of proceedings even in the Supreme Court.

    We should not have spent crores of rupees on the trial of Mohammad Kasab, who was hanged, and done away with him for the attacks on Mumbai. The food security law which will subsidies food for 65 per cent of the population is a prey to suspicion. The government is to be blamed for introducing the measure through an ordinance when the Parliament session was only three weeks away (It has now been postponed to August after the ordinance).

    Most political parties are in favor of the food Bill but want a legitimate discussion in Parliament before it is enacted. The Congress prefers the route of ordinance on the plea that political parties, particularly the BJP, have not allowed Parliament to function. This is true. But the ordinance too has to be passed by Parliament. For that a consensus would be required. Why couldn’t the government bring about it before the ordinance? There is something in the allegation that the Congress eyes are fixed on the parliamentary elections which are due in May 2014.

    It is possible that the polls may take place in November or December. Such are the suspicions which have nullified the food security ordinance which would enable roughly 850 million people of limited means to buy rice at Rs. 3, wheat at Rs. 2 and bajra for Rs 1a kg. The case of the CBI’s autonomy is yet another example worth dwelling on. People have no faith in the supervision by the three retired High Court judges. The suspicion is that the government would appoint pliable judges. Since the CBI will be under the government, any measure it takes fails to evoke faith.

    The other main political party, the BJP, is suspect because it is selling the Modi thesis of Hindutva. The latest is the building of the Ram temple at the site where the Babri Masjid stood before its demolition. The party should realize that the religious card cannot be played again and again. The demand for a temple and a uniform civil code is supposed to be part of development, a camouflage for Hindutva.

    The party is as much engaged in power politics as the Congress is. That the leftist parties have social justice and federalism on their agenda is to the liking of a preponderant majority. To their admiration, a convention of the leftist parties in Delhi last week reiterated the two points. Indeed, the Manmohan Singh government has made the rich richer and has made a mockery of political autonomy.

    Yet the CPI (M) was found wanting during its rule of 15 years in West Bengal. The Sachar Committee has said that the Muslim community in the state was the most backward in education (only 2.7 per cent). The CPI supported the authoritarian rule of Indira Gandhi during the Emergency. The Janata Dal (United) evokes hope to be a third alternative because its chief, Sharad Yadav, has said that his party will fight totalitarianism of communists and communalism of the BJP.

    Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has shown in his rule that a government can rise above gimmicks. Rightly Nitish Kumar has asked for the National Investigation Agency to probe the Bodh Gaya bomb blasts. The nation’s problem is how to reignite the spirit of confidence and idealism. Alas, no political party, even in the states, comes up to that standard.

    Whether the next election throws up such people is in the realm of conjecture. Persons like me are still optimistic that India would return to the path of values which it took after winning Independence.

  • COALGATE: CBI SEEKS PERMISSION TO QUIZ BUREAUCRATS

    COALGATE: CBI SEEKS PERMISSION TO QUIZ BUREAUCRATS

    RANCHI (TIP): The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has sought Jharkhand governor’s permission to probe the role of some bureaucrats, including former chief secretary AK Basu, for their alleged role in irregularities in allotment of coal blocks. The agency has sought to interrogate Basu, who retired in 2009, for illegal allocation of a coal block to Vini Iron and Steel Udyog in 2008.

    Sources in CBI said Basu made the recommendation for allotment of the block to Vini during his tenure when Madhu Koda was the chief minister and the company was promoted by some of his close associates. “The name of Vini Iron and Steel was not recommended initially. It was only after the company was acquired by close aides of Koda that a recommendation was made and it was allotted Rajhara coal block, which has an estimated reserve of 17.09 million tonnes.

    The change in ownership coincided with the change in the government’s view and it was also reflected in the recommendation made by the chief secretary,” said the source. He said the developments which took place during 2008-09 raised suspicions about the role of the government officials in the scam. “The company had showed its net worth to be over Rs 850 crore in its application to acquire the block. Actually, it was not more than Rs 70 crore,” said the source. State officials declined to comment.

  • CBI summons YSR’s close aide in Jagan case

    CBI summons YSR’s close aide in Jagan case

    HYDERABAD (TIP): In a key development in the disproportionate assets case against YSR Congress party leader YS Jaganmohan Reddy, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has summoned a close aide of his late father and Congress MP KVP Ramachandra Rao for questioning. KVP, as he is popularly known, has been asked to appear on Saturday morning, the CBI sources said. Currently a member of the Rajya Sabha, KVP was a close aide of late chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, during whose tenure (2004-09), Jaganmohan Reddy, his son, allegedly amassed huge wealth.

    The CBI believes YSR showed undue favours to certain companies and individuals who invested in his son’s businesses. KVP’s rivals both within the ruling party and also in opposition have been alleging that as the government advisor, he played a key role in government decisions to allot lands and extend other concessions on quid pro quo basis. They have long been demanding a CBI probe on KVP’s role.

    This is the first time that KVP was called by the CBI since registering a case against Jagan and 73 others in 2011 following the probe ordered by the Andhra Pradesh high court on a petition by some Congress and Telugu Desam leaders.

  • Chautala, Son, 51 Others Convicted

    Chautala, Son, 51 Others Convicted

    NEW DELHI (TIP): Twelve years after the illegal recruitment of 3,200-odd junior teachers in Haryana, the law caught up with former CM Om Prakash Chautala, his son Ajay Chautala and 51 others on January 16 with a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court convicting them of acts of corruption and cheating. The high profile trial ended with Chautala behind bars as judge Vinod Kumar held the 78-year-old Indian National Lok Dal leader the “main conspirator” behind the scam that grabbed nation-wide notice for its scope and brazenness. Chautala and others, including two IAS officers, were sent to Delhi’s Tihar jail.

    The conviction has implications for Haryana politics as the ruling Congress government has been at the receiving end of corruption allegations over alleged illegal land allotments to influential persons. The conviction levels the playing field somewhat with a major opposition figure convicted of corrupt practices. Those sent to jail have been convicted of offences of cheating, forgery, using fake documents and conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code and abuse of their official position under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The court will announce the quantum of sentence on January 22.

    Commenting on the blatant manner in which the appointments were manipulated, the court noted that Chautala had called the then director of education Sanjiv Kumar to change the list of successful candidates as the government had gained a majority and did not need to accommodate the interests of MLAs from supporting parties any more. Interestingly, while Kumar was seen as a whistleblower in the scam, he was made a coaccused and has been convicted in the case. The former CM’s son, Ajay Chautala, is currently an MLA and is also facing trial in a case of disproportionate assets. In course of arguments, CBI claimed each teacher paid a bribe of Rs 3-4 lakh and that Chautala, who held the education portfolio at the time of the scam, gave written instructions to Kumar demanding the original list of candidates be replaced.

    The court held that in 2000, Chautala senior and his son conspired with others for illegally recruiting 3,206 junior basic trained (JBT) teachers in the state. Initially, 62 accused were named but six died during the trial while one was discharged. Ajay Chautala was then an MP, who was in regular touch with Kumar over the recruitment lists. Among the 55 convicted are Sanjiv Kumar, Chautala’s former officer on special duty Vidya Dhar, both IAS officers, political advisor to the then Haryana CM Sher Singh Badshami and 16 women officials. Stating that it was under Chautala’s tutelage that the state government officials “executed this scam”, the court said, “There is a complete chain of circumstances which pinned down accused Om Prakash Chautala as the main conspirator… it was O P Chautala on whose behalf these accused persons were executing this scam.”

    The circumstances and testimony of Sanjiv Kumar helped convince the court. As CM, Chautala directed Kumar to alter the award list, the court said as the judgment was pronounced in a jam-packed courtroom. The scam came to light after Kumar, a 1989 batch IAS officer, filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court alleging that the Chautala government had resorted to corrupt practices while recruiting the junior teachers in 2000. The apex court handed the case to CBI, which over the course of a four-year investigation, raided Chautala’s premises and grilled him, his legislator sons and the former officials.

    After the investigations, CBI also made Kumar an accused in the case. The prosecution alleged that the convicts had appointed 3,206 JBT teachers in the state during 1999-2000. In its chargesheet, the agency claimed that its probe established that a conspiracy on making a second list was hatched at Haryana Bhawan in the capital by calling the chairpersons and members of the district-level selection committees of 18 districts. They were also called to a guest house in Chandigarh, where the modalities were worked out, it had said. In its 308-page-order, the court relied on the testimony of Sanjiv Kumar and the CBI probe. Chautala’s INLD had got majority in Haryana in 2000 and the scam was committed the same year. Detailing the role of Chautala in the scam, the court said, “Profuse evidence is available on record to show that it was O P Chautala who was managing the whole affairs.” The court said that first IAS officer R P Chander, a CBI witness, who was the then director of primary education, had given a proposal for declaring the results of successful candidates in April 2000, but he was transferred the next day itself.

    Subsequently, IAS officer Rajni Shekri Sibal, also a CBI witness, was brought in at Chander’s place and she was asked by accused Badshami and Vidya Dhar to change the award lists in the presence of Ajay Chautala, it said. “When Rajni recommended compilation of results vide her note sheet of June 20, 2000, she was also transferred and Sanjiv Kumar was appointed in her place,” the court said, adding that Kumar’s testimony proves he was brought with a “specific mandate of changing the award lists”. The counsel appearing for Chautala alleged that Sibal was “playing in the hands” of Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the present Haryana CM and a political rival of Chautala’s, but the court dismissed the defence contention.

    “I am of the opinion that she is not only a truthful witness but I find that she was the only person who had enough courage to withstand the political pressures exerted upon them,” the court said. The defense counsel claimed Sibal was testifying falsely as she was a close relative of Union telecom minister Kapil Sibal and had links with Congress leaders. Dismissing the contention, the court said, “Had she (Sibal) been playing in the hands of Congress leaders, nothing stopped her from directly implicating the CM. She was an officer senior enough having an opportunity to meet the CM off and on…

    Therefore, the allegation against her that she is playing in the hands of Congress leaders namely Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Kapil Sibal does not hold.” It also rejected the defense’s attempt to scatter the blame by submitting that the council of ministers was responsible collectively for a cabinet decision. “Although the cabinet decision was taken by the council of ministers, but it must be remembered that it was done with the permission of O P Chautala who was the chief minister at that time despite the fact that the item was not in the agenda,” it said.

  • Congress asks CAG to respond to public debate on coal report

    Congress asks CAG to respond to public debate on coal report

    NEW DELHI (TIP): Raising questions over the CAG’s mandate to examine the profits of companies who have been allocated coal blocks, the Congress Thursday said the country’s chief auditor cannot eschew public debate started by its report on notional loss of Rs 1.86 lakh crore to the exchequer. Party spokesperson Manish Tewari said criticism of the government about delay in implementing policy on auctions was unfair.

    He said e auction policy for coal brought by the National Democratic Alliance government had been termed as “irrational and inequitable” by the Supreme Court and the United Progressive Alliance had formed new policies for spot auction and forward auction after proper deliberations. Tewari said the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had said in an affidavit in a court case that it had never done audit of private operators unless requested by the government.

    “Did the government tell CAG that it should estimate how much coal can be extracted by private coal companies… There are large number of unanswered questions not only about methodology of audit but whether CAG would have at all conducted the audit,” he said. Referring to CAG’s stance that it will put forward its case at the appropriate forum and not respond to the debate on its report, Tewari said this would not do. ‘When you have started a debate on estimated loss, then questions on work style… answers will have to be given,’ he said.

    Tewari, however, ruled out any possibility of the impeachment of the CAG. ‘You have to make a distinction between the CAG and its report. We are disputing the report of the CAG and the methodology he has adopted.’ ‘It is not inappropriate to raise legitimate questions on what the CAG has done. I do not think questioning conclusions undermines anyone’s credibility,’ he said. Law Minister Salman Khurshid said the issue of loss has not been taken up by the CAG report and it has said that a part of financial gain to private companies could have come to the government. Answering queries, he said while allocations will not be cancelled, there was normal process of de-allocation if contractual obligations were not fulfilled.

    Congress sources said while the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was conducting preliminary probe in six cases of coal allocation and there were several other blocks in no-go areas or cases where allocations had been cancelled.