ELECTIONS '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ARCHIVES

Governor says there is no evidence against Mahanta

Prafulla Kumar Mahanta has been virtually cleared of his alleged involvement in the multi-million rupee letter of credit scam with Governor Lt Gen S K Sinha (retired) turning down the Central Bureau of Investigation's request to prosecute the Assam chief minister.

The governor, however, accorded his sanction to prosecute former Congress minister Nakul Das in the scam in the state's veterinary department saying he has found prima facie evidence against him.

In a six-page release, the governor said as the sanctioning authority for prosecution, ''It is not for me to sit in judgement and play role of a judge but it is my bounden duty to satisfy myself that prima facie evidence exists before according sanction for the prosecution.

''After a detailed and careful scrutiny of the documents sent to me by the CBI in connection with the Demow LOC scam, I have come to the conclusion that CBI investigation has not yielded prima facie evidence establishing the criminal culpability of Mahanta.

"Therefore, I have rejected the recommendation to accord sanction for his prosecution,'' he said.

Mahanta later accused the Congress of conspiring with former CBI director R C Sharma to chargesheet him in the scandal. "R C Sharma, Sitaram Kesri, Matang Singh and the prime accused, R P Bora, falsely tried to implicate me in the LOC scam," the chief minister said.

Tell us what you think of this report