Jagdish Tytler summoned as accused by court in forgery case

Congress leader Jagdish Tytler, who has been chargesheeted by CBI along with controversial arms dealer Abhishek Verma in a forgery case, was issued summons as an accused by a Delhi court asking him to appear on September 30.

Special CBI Judge V K Gupta took cognisance of the CBI's charge sheet which was filed on the then Minister of State for Home Ajay Maken's complaint that a forged letter on his letterhead was written to the Prime Minister by Verma seeking easing of business visa norms in 2009.

Verma is presently lodged in Tihar Jail after being arrested in various cases lodged against him by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate.

CBI in its charge sheet has alleged that the "forgery was done with active connivance" of the Congress leader with Verma.

"The forged letter was given to a China-based telecom firm with the purpose of wrongful assuring them of visa extension in India. Verma had allegedly demanded one million dollars from the firm showing the letter but the money did not exchange hands," it said.

Acting on the complaint of Maken, CBI had registered a case against Verma last year under section 469 of the IPC which relates to forgery for purpose of harming reputation.

CBI has also slapped charges for violation of Information Technology Act and Prevention of Corruption Act.

During the course of its investigation, CBI claimed to have found that Tytler was actively involved in the forgery of the letter, written on letterhead of Maken, which was purportedly addressed to the Prime Minister for easing visa norms for a Chinese telecom firm in 2009.

Verma and his Romanian wife Anca Maria Neacsu were arrested by the CBI on June 8 last year in a corruption case for allegedly receiving money from a Swiss firm to stall its blacklisting proceedings by Indian government.

This was followed by registration of the forgery case. Anca is also in judicial custody.

C Edmond Allen, an estranged business associate of Verma, had sent a tranche of documents to CBI and Defence Ministry which included a letter allegedly written on the forged letterhead of Maken.

Verma and Allen, Chairman of Ganton, are entangled in a number of litigations against each other in India and the United States.

During the inquiry, CBI found that the letter without Maken's signature was allegedly used to impress Verma's clients and show his influence in the power corridors.

The letter on Maken's forged letterhead was part of alleged dealings between Verma's front company Ganton and a Chinese telecom company working closely with MTNL and BSNL, the charge sheet said.

When the case was registered in August last year, Verma had termed the allegations as "politically motivated."

"This is a political rivalry and this is being done at the behest of Jagdish Tytler as I had deposed against him in another (graft) case. There was a deal between me and CBI as per which it had said that if I give evidence and depose against Tytler, the agency will not oppose my wife Anca's bail in that case. I gave evidence against Tytler but CBI backtracked," Verma had said in the court.