To save Cong-DMK ties, officer probing Raja scam transferred

November 13, 2010 3:11:55 PM

J Gopikrishnan | New Delhi

Central Bureau of Investigation DIG Vineet Agarwal, the head of investigation into the controversial 2G spectrum allocation by Telecom Minister A Raja, has been packed off to his parent State cadre. A Maharashtra cadre officer, Agarwal was sent back on completion of his deputation tenure on March 31. This despite the fact that courts have regularly passed orders in favour of retaining the heads of investigation teams in sensitive cases like the fodder scam, Koda scam and others.

Incidentally, the Central Vigilance Commission — which is supervising the spectrum probe — has to date not even been officially communicated the decision taken by the Department of Personnel and Training, which comes under the Prime Minister.

Agarwal had become an eyesore for several key players in the spectrum scam after he unearthed clinching evidence to establish their complicity in the biggest scandal to hit the country in the recent past. Sources said Agarwal’s removal was part of a game plan to bury the truth in the spectrum scam.

Sources said CBI director Ashwani Kumar was summoned by the PMO in the last week of October 2009, soon after the CBI registered an FIR in the spectrum scam on the orders of the CVC. According to CBI sources, the director in the first meeting with the investigation team told the sleuths that the PMO had told him to ensure that “unnecessary embarrassment” was not created for the UPA Government in the course of inquiry. According to sources, the director was asked to consult a senior PMO official on “each and every step” of the investigation. Terming the spectrum case a “hot potato”, the director had told the investigation team to get his clearance before making any arrests in the case.

Within weeks of launching the probe, the CBI sleuths found gross irregularities in money flow into Swan Telecom, the major beneficiary in the spectrum scam. Along with the foreign investor Etisalat, Genex Exim (a small newly-created firm from Tamil Nadu) received Rs 380 crore worth of shares in Swan Telecom which, the CBI believes, was a kickback for the favouritism shown in the spectrum allocation.

This small firm was the front company for the Dubai-based conglomerate ETA Star Ascon, owned by the NRI tycoon Sayed Salahuddin, haling from Kilukarai in Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu.

After questioning Swan’s (now known as Etisalat DB India) Shahid Balwa, the CBI had decided to question Sayed Salahuddin and sought clearance from a very senior official in the PMO. The NRI tycoon was visiting New Delhi between January 7 and 9 in connection with the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas celebration and it was during his stay in the Capital that the CBI wanted to grill him.

But the agency sleuths were asked to stay away from Salahuddin till March 13, sources said, on the ground that he was the contractor for the new Legislative Secretariat complex, which was to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on March 13. Congress chief Sonia Gandhi was also to attend the function. Salahuddin is closely associated with the DMK-led Tamil Nadu Government and running a public insurance scheme through his Star Health Insurance. For the past four decades, most of the flyovers in Tamil Nadu were constructed by this NRI businessman. He was also the distributor for some films scripted by Chief Minister M Karunanidhi in the early 1970s.

The Genex Exim, which is termed an Indian investor by Swan, had transferred Rs 380 crore within 24 hours by routing the money through four destinations — Dubai, Mauritius, Chennai and Mumbai.

Agarwal was transferred from the CBI on March 31, a few days after the Prime Minister wrote to Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy that “it was premature to grant sanction to prosecute Raja as the CBI investigation is going on” in the spectrum scam.

Agarwal has been reportedly removed from the probe team because his line of investigation threatened to establish Raja’s direct links with the scam and create severe strain on the Congress-DMK ties.

On the directive of the CVC on October 15, 2009, the CBI took up the investigation in the spectrum scam on October 22 and raided the offices of the DoT and the beneficiary telecom companies. Since the investigation was proceeding under the supervision of the CVC, the CBI was expected to inform it of the case progress at regular intervals. But, according to sources, no such information has been filed by the CBI to the CVC to date, including the transfer of the probe team chief.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/251782/To-save-Cong-DMK-ties-officer-probing-Raja-scam-transferred.html