Turmoil prevailed in both houses of Parliament yesterday over the alleged suicide of Harish Khandelwal, an accused in the Bihar animal husbandry scam. In a note, he is reported to have accused CBI officials of mental and physical torture during interrogation in connection with the scam.
Dal leaders were engaged in heated exchanges with members of the BJP and the Samata Party in the Lok Sabha. Laloo Prasad Yadav, Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal president, is also accused in the Rs 950 crore scam. In the Rajya Sabha, Congress leaders took up cudgels against the CBI but were rebutted by Left leaders.
In the Lok Sabha, Janata Dal working president Sharad Yadav and MP M A A Fatmi demanded that a commission of inquiry be set up to probe Khandelwals death. Ram Kripal Yadav, a close confidante of Laloo, alleged that the CBI is working like a political party and that there was a clear nexus between the CBI, the BJP and the Samata Party.
More From This Section
Though both sides demanded an inquiry into Khandelwals death, their perceptions of the incident were different. BJP member Rita Verma, in her constant interventions, talked of the possibility of the accused having been physically eliminated as he was going to become an approver. She claimed that the suicide note was a fake.
On the other hand, Dal MPs raised basic questions on the functioning of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which, Fatmi said, had become an instrument to persecute political leaders not only in Bihar but all over the country. In order to floor the BJP, Fatmi mentioned about the Jain Hawala case and the charging of BJP president L K Advani by the CBI. The courts acquitted Advani on the grounds of insufficient evidence.
Fatmi said the CBI, which had earlier decided to appeal against Advanis acquittal to the Supreme Court, had not done so because it was hand-in-glove with the BJP.
Perhaps uneasy about this charge, most BJP members other than Rita Verma and Jaswant Singh avoided getting involved in yesterdays exchanges. Leaders like M M Joshi, Sushma Swaraj and Vijay Goel protested that too much time was being given to an old issue when other pressing issues needed to be raised.
Joshi protested that the Chair was allowing a debate on the issue by permitting all to speak on one issue. He demanded that a separate time be fixed in case a debate was necessary.
The issue created an uproar in the Rajya Sabha when members of the Left parties opposed Congress MP SS Ahluwalias allegation that the CBIs over-enthusiasm to produce results in the fodder scam had made Khandelwal commit suicide.
The CBI had been giving cash awards to officials who produced results, he pointed out, holding that this led them to apply third degree methods to get information from the deceased.
He demanded that the human rights commission should inquire into the incident, which he said had undermined the CBIs credibility. People should have confidence in justice and the administration, he said, and wondered if the fodder scam accused were given adequate fora to defend themselves.
Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Gurudas Dasgupta criticised Ahluwalia for casting aspersions on the CBI and assigned motives to the latters arguments. He said that the latter should not pass a judgement on the CBI as the investigations were being undertaken under a high courts order.
Ahluwalia was enraged at Dasguptas comment and asked the chair to intervene. Deputy Chairman Najma Heptulla expunged Dasguptas remark.
CPI (Marxist) member Nilotpal Basu said Khandelwal might have been murdered and it was not fair to question the credibility of the CBI. It was not right that MPs were arguing for and against the CBI, he said.
The issue was raised through a zero hour mention by Janata Dal member Ram Deo Bhandari. He alleged that Khandelwal committed suicide after the CBI pressurised him to become an approver, and demanded a high level inquiry into the issue.
Samajwadi Partys Azam Khan pointed out that Khandelwals suicide note was the most significant document that would establish the truth. The police should have verified within 24 hours the authsenticity of the suicide note, he said.
CPI (M) leader Somnath Chatterjee yesterday reappeared in the Lok Sabha after a week-long absence, and reversing his stand, demanded that Laloo Prasad should step down. This has been his partys stand but Chatterjee had earlier softpedaled on the issue.
Chatterjee had been chided by party general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet around ten days back after the former said in the Lok Sabha that it was unfair for people to demand the resignation of a Chief Minister merely on the basis of media reports and the decision of the CBI to seek the Governors permission to charge him in the animal husbandry scam.
Chatterjee had not been attending Parliament ever since. His party had, in the meantime, changed its stand to say that they wanted Laloo Prasad to resign only when the CBI formally sought the permission of the Governor to charge him.
In taking a U-turn, Chatterjee was caught by BJPs Jaswant Singh, who needled the CPI(M) leader by saying that he was happy that Chatterjee had finally demanded what the BJP had been demanding for the last fortnight.
Somnath protested that he had never said in the House that Laloo Prasad should not resign and that he was yesterday only repeating what he had said earlier, that though Laloo Prasads guilt or innocence could be established only in the court of law, it was only proper for a person holding such a public office to step down when facing a serious corruption charge.
Jaswant did not give up. He welcomed that the CPI(M) has also been saying what his party has been saying. But it could do better with some action: Why dont you combine that (demand that Laloo should step down) with some action (dismissing Laloo Prasads government for not resigning), he asked.