Date:18/01/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/01/18/stories/2004011801420700.htm

National

SIT exceeding its brief: Bhujbal

By Mahesh Vijapurkar

MUMBAI, JAN. 17. The former Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Chagan Bhujbal, today accused the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the fake stamp papers scam of targeting him and his family and feared that though "untainted," damage "would be done to him before the truth was out." The SIT was exceeding its brief, he said.

In a press conference three weeks after he resigned, Mr. Bhujbal said the "investigation process has entered the political theatre in an election year." The probe team appeared to be acting on allegations made by the Opposition leaders, Narayan Rane and Nitin Gadkari (BJP), and "vilifying with selective media leaks." Mr. Rane's questioning was hidden for two months, he said.

Mr. Bhujbal said that since the appointment of S.S. Puri as the SIT chief had been challenged in the High Court and the Supreme Court, it would be appropriate if the SIT "acted with restraint" instead of "exceeding its brief" and targeting him and his family. There was "political hatred" against him. The original mandate given to the SIT was two-fold: to get to the bottom of the stamp scam run by Abdul Karim Telgi and to probe the allegations by a police official, S.M. Mushrif, that the inquiry was partisan. The SIT was now ignoring the scam and, instead, "personal scores were being settled between rival police factions."

He dismissed as coincidence the Shiv Sena chief, Bal Thackeray's accusation of partisanship against the SIT in today's issue of the Sena's mouthpiece, Saamna. Instead of going after Telgi's associates, agents and their "protectors in New Delhi," efforts were on to "corner me and my associates," Mr. Bhujbal charged.

He said that while this continued unabated, a probe into the "Delhi connection" would bring out the truth. "But by then, damage would have been done to me."

He said he would face any "impartial probe" if it were not run by "puppets on a string." Mr. Bhujbal's nephew, Samir, would appear before the SIT on Monday. Mr. Bhujbal said that people were being selectively picked for questioning — "the lowest functionary in my household has been questioned" and some were asked to "implicate me" — while others were being ignored.

A new "transfer scam of police officers" has been taken up though outside the SIT's scope, thus entering the "theatre of politics," he alleged.

He said Subodh Jaiswal — the first chief of SIT — was aggrieved about a posting and targeted "me through a resolution at the IPS Officers Association" but "I still picked him for a probe. That shows I did no wrong and am untouched by the scam."