RAJ KUMAR/VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, May 27: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which had recovered many incriminating documents related to the 34th National Games scam during its raids at 16 places in the country, today continued its search operation for the second consecutive day.
Sources in the sports fraternity said that the CBI sleuths were noticed at the residences of G. Narayan, R.N.Mishra and Shivendu Dubey besides others in search of documents giving clues regarding the alleged scam involving more than Rs 28 crore in the purchase of equipment for the national games.
“Narayan, R.R. Mishra and Dubey are the members of the purchase committee constituted by R.K.Anand. It was the same purchase committee that executed the work of the tender committee constituted by the state government. They are not famous figures. I remember that Mishra was a clerk of the DC office in Jamtara and presently associated with Kabaddi. Similar is the status of the other two,” a person closely associated with the sports fraternity informed.
A close aide of one of the accused persons of the scam, where the CBI sleuths had visited in search of incriminating documents, said the CBI officials were very cooperative with the accused and they were never noticed showing strictness while collecting documents.
“They asked for a document. When it was informed to them that all the necessary documents had been filed in the court while applying for bail, the team members realised the situation and asked just to provide the cancelled cheque of all the associations with which the accused is associated to verify the transaction. The accused provided the same. The CBI team members also asked about the key of the office of the National Games Organising Committee (NGOC) at Morhabadi. The accused expressed his ignorance regarding the same. The CBI team members wanted the accused to give permission to break open the lock of the office which the accused denied and asked the CBI team members no permission is required for the CBI to break open the lock,” the close aide said.
Visiting the NGOC office today, it was found closed. A security guard deputed in the office campus said the office is never opened. “Yesterday a CBI team came to open the office after a long time,” the security guard said.
The National Games were held in Ranchi in 2011. Prior to the organisation of games, irregularities in purchase of equipment started. The game concluded in 2011 and the alleged scam in the game is being probed by CBI under the direction of the Jharkhand High Court.
The Jharkhand High Court judgment of referring the investigation of the 34th National Games to the CBI had come up with some very serious remarks on the political, police, and the bureaucratic class of Jharkhand that prevented a proper probe.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Dr. Ravi Ranjan and Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad passed the judgment on April 11 and even said that persons at the helm of affairs i.e., political as well as high-ups in the bureaucracy duped the court.
JMM patriarch and former Jharkhand chief minister Shibu Soren has been mentioned twice in the judgment. What arouses curiosity is that the court referred to him as the father of the present chief minister Hemant Soren. The court said handing over this case to the CBI would be in the interest of social justice and to maintain the faith of people in the justice system.
Without naming any politician and bureaucrat, the court has dropped hints about who they are and why the probe never proceeded in the right direction.
“The Chairman of the Organizing Committee, during the relevant time, was Shibu Soren, as also he was Chief Minister of Jharkhand. The names of the high-ups of the Police administration and the bureaucrats have also surfaced along with the Ministers concerned. The investigation has not proceeded in the right direction, rather, the dilly-dallying tactics were there,” the court observed
“…committee which was constituted for organizing the 34th National Games, was headed by the then Chief Minister, who is the father of the present Chief Minister and it would also appear from the list of the committees wherein most of the bureaucrats are now at the highest level of the Government heading the departments. Therefore, will it not be proper for this Court, in such a situation, to hand over the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation in order to maintain the faith of the people and to secure social justice,” the court said.
The court said that there were hints of the suspected involvement of many top officials in the alleged scam. It is hard to believe that the Jharkhand Vigilance Bureau now named as Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) can investigate the national games scam properly.
The court pointed out that in the PIL 7719/2012, the High court had ordered ACB to complete the investigation into the construction of Mega Sports Complex. Although an investigation pertaining to the purchase of sports equipment was carried out through Case No.49/2010, no such investigation has been conducted either by the State Police or by the ACB.
“Even persons at the helms of affairs i.e., political as well as high-ups in the bureaucracy, have duped the Court by filing false affidavit regarding handing over the investigation pertaining to the construction of Mega sports Complex to the Vigilance Bureau while the functionary of investigating agency itself has stated before this Court that no such investigation has been handed over to the Vigilance Bureau,” the court frowned.
It further stated that state authorities sitting in the helms of affairs as also political leaders who may be involved in the matter of organizing the 34th National Games, appears to have managed the things by not handing over the investigation to Vigilance Bureau in the matter of construction of Mega Sports Complex.
The court said that even investigation of the equipment purchase case has been going on for the last 12 years whereas the court had directed the Vigilance Bureau to complete the probe in eight months of time in an order the court had passed on January 31, 2014. It reprimanded and said that in criminal matters probes can’t be allowed to be continued till eternity.
The court seemingly has raised questions over the probity of the police official probing the case and one who heads ACB currently.
“But in the case in hand, despite the order passed by this Court, the investigation has not been completed, rather, it has been allowed to be continued, and still it is continuing. This puts a serious question mark upon the investigating agency, the officials, and all high[1]ups. It has been informed to this Court that the matter is being investigated pertaining to Vigilance Case No.49/2010 and a serious allegation has been leveled against one high police official who is now in the helms of affairs of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, being its head,” the court said.
The court passed the order while hearing a batch of PIL filed by Sushil Kumar Singh Mantu, Surya Singh Besra of Jharkhand Against Corruption, and Pankaj Yadav.
