The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday said the name of Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah never figured in the 2006 sex scandal case in which two ministers of the then Peoples Democratic Party regime were arrested.
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In a letter to Speaker of Jammu and Kashmir assembly Mohammad Akbar Lone, the CBI has stated that six cases were filed and 17 persons were named as accused in the sex scandal, but the name of the CM did not figure in the list.
Highly-placed CBI sources said the name of the chief minister had never come up in any way during the probe and that the list of accused questioned by the agency consisted of a little over three dozen people.
The CBI said the name of the agency was being unnecessarily dragged into the controversy by a political party in the state.
While the list of accused questioned by the CBI was mere 37, PDP leader Muzzafar Hussain Beigh on Tuesday claimed at the floor of the house that Omar's name was at serial number 102.
A senior CBI official, who probed the entire scandal on directions of the J&K High Court, said a list had been prepared and circulated in 2006 by people having vested interest possibly to target political opponents.
But the agency found that the list had no relevance whatsoever during the probe, the official said.
The CBI had arrested G M Mir and Raman Mattoo, both ministers in the then PDP-Congress government, besides Iqbal Khandey, the former Principal Secretary to the then Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed.
Additional inputs from PTI