CBI joint chief 'got the boot' when he was 'zeroing in on Rajiv, Rao'

The former Central Bureau of Investigation joint director in charge of the Rs 650 million hawala case has claimed that he was shunted out when he tried to probe the involvement of former prime ministers Rajiv Gandhi and P V Narasimha Rao in the scam.

Disclosing this in his application before the Central Administrative Tribunal, B R Lall said, ''The decision to record the key accused, S K Jain and J K Jain's statements regarding Rajiv and Rao's involvement cost me the post.''

He said the Jains implicated, among others, Rajiv Gandhi and Rao. The Jains were thoroughly interrogated and their deposition verified again and again as the allegations were against the highest functionary in the land.

Though the Jains's statements stood the test of interrogation, then CBI director K Vijaya Rama Rao did not allow Lall to verify them, it is claimed.

Lall said he and his team were convinced of the prima facie veracity of the Jains's statements and as such recorded the same truthfully, which is ''not the administrative culture in our country''.

Once this was done, serious problems arose for Lall and his deputy Amod Kanth.

The then director suggested that Rao's name ''be deleted, but I refused to take the same.... But the same was not liked,'' said Lall who is challenging his ''average'' grading by the top CBI officials in the annual confidential reports.

At this juncture, a news item was ''planted'' in a national daily, saying that the CBI had found S K Jain's ''statements totally unreliable as he never uttered a word against Rao during his earlier interrogation''.

The news item tried to create an impression that S K Jain's statements were wrongly recorded, Lall said in his application.

The investigation, however, confirmed that the hawala funds were basically kickbacks in various power projects like Kawas, Dulhhasti, Uri besides modernisation of the Durgapur steel plant, the petition claimed.

Lall said the investigation against Rajiv Gandhi was dropped on ground that he was dead. Under the law, however, the assets created by the corrupt could be seized by the State.

The former CBI officer said the investigation could not progress smoothly as differences arose at the top level at a crucial stage on the question of giving ''discriminatory favours'' to VVIPs and influential people.

Lal, who was shifted to the Bureau of Police Research and Development as its director in December 1996, claimed in his petition that several steps taken by him were ignored. This could have become crucial evidence in the case, he added.

Meanwhile, Vijaya Rama Rao has denied that top CBI officials had prevented Lall from probing the case against VVIPs, including Rajiv Gandhi and Rao. He regretted that a portion of Lal's petition was released to the media though the matter was sub judice.

UNI

EARLIER REPORTS:
Formers ministers get notices in hawala case
Delhi high court issues notice to Khurana
Delhi high court stays trial against JD chief