CBI may arrest Jogi, son in bribery case

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today acted in record time to investigate the alleged bribery attempt by former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi and others to pay Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs money to prevent the BJP from coming to power. The arrest of Jogi and his son Amit, is a distinct possibility.

On the other hand, making a statement in Parliament about the bribery attempt made to win favours from former Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Dilip Singh Judeo, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said the CBI could neither be influenced nor bullied into giving tailor-made results and would be fair about the investigations.

He said it was not possible to say anything more because the investigations were under progress. Members, however, demanded a joint parliamentary committee probe into the issue.

But the contrast in the efficiency shown by the CBI in the two cases""both concerning Chhattisgarh""was too glaring to be overlooked.

After its arrival in Raipur, the three-member CBI team had an initial discussion with the officials of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).

The team will take over the case against Jogi, his son Amit and defected PR Khunte (member of Parliament) from the ACB, which registered the case against Jogi on Sunday. Yesterday, a CBI team was in Raipur, having shown exemplary efficiency.

The case against Jogi was registered following a complaint by former BJP state secretary Virendra Pandey that the Congress leader allegedly gave him Rs 45 lakh and a letter addressed to the governor extending support to a breakaway group led by Bastar BJP MP Baliram Kashyap to prevent the BJP from forming a government after the recent Assembly elections.

The CBI also registered an FIR yesterday after the state government handed over the case to it, although Jogi and his son are in Delhi since the matter surfaced.

Union Law Minister Arun Jaitley had on Saturday night at a press meet displayed Rs 45 lakh and a taped conversation purportedly between Jogi and Khunte with Pandey and Kashyap and claimed the outgoing chief minister had allegedly attempted to bribe the BJP leaders to prevent the party from coming to power.

Making a suo motu statement in the Lok Sabha, Vajpayee said the CBI had sent notices to both Judeo and his assistant private secretary Natwar Rateria.

Yesterday, Vajpayee had deferred his statement by a day provoking Congress and Left members to accuse the government of not taking Parliament seriously and of also avoiding the Judeo issue. Several Opposition members had moved adjournment motions on the Judeo bribery episode.