Southern States - Karnataka   

BJP sets deadline for decision on CBI probe

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE Nov. 21. The BJP has threatened to launch a Statewide agitation if the Government does not concede its demand for a CBI inquiry into the multi-crore stamp paper racket within a week.

The deadline was set at a meeting of the party leaders here on Thursday, according to the chairman of the party's Campaign Committee, B.S. Yediyurappa, who said that the nature of the agitation would be decided soon.

Mr. Yediyurappa, who was addressing a press conference on Friday, said the meeting also wanted the Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna, to drop the Minister for Small-scale Industries and Haj, Roshan Baig, and also another Minister whose husband's name reportedly figured in the racket, to clear the air of suspicion. Expressing surprise how the Chief Minister could be adamant even in the face of the observations of the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister wondering why Karnataka and Maharashtra were hesitant to entrust the inquiry to the CBI as the scam was spread over 11States, Mr. Yediyurappa said that at one stage, in fact, the Chief Minister had agreed for a CBI inquiry.

Mr. Yediyurappa and Ramachandra Gowda, MLC, questioned the need for the Government invoking a provision of the Code of Criminal Procedure to thwart the main accused, Abdul Karim Telgi, being handed over to another State for investigation as the provision was intended to be used only in case of threat to public order and safety. This was obviously done by the Government to save a Minister, some police officials, and itself.

They pointed out that the Government was talking of a special court to try the accused for the past two years and sought to know from the Government when it had approached the High Court to name a judge. The claim was made only to prolong the cases. The Government had also committed a lapse in not showing in the record that the main accused was HIV infected and in not getting him treated.

The two leaders had a dig at the chief of the special police team investigating the case and said he seemed to be acting as a post office furnishing information to Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh rather than genuinely working to get the accused prosecuted. Reacting to the statement of the KPCC President, B. Janardhana Poojary, doubting the ability of the CBI to act independently, Mr. Yediyurappa said he need not be taken seriously.

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