M A I N   N E W S

CBI raids houses of Chautala, Ajay
JBT recruitment case
Yoginder Gupta, Shubhadeep Choudhury & Vishal Joshi
Tribune News Service

CBI officials coming out of former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala’s residence in Chandigarh after conducting a raid on Thursday. — PTI photo

Chandigarh, April 7
The CBI raided the houses of the former Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, his MP son, Ajay, and his close associates at several places, including Chandigarh, Delhi, Sirsa, Bhiwani and Kurukshetra today in an attempt to collect evidence in a criminal case regarding the appointment of junior basic trained (JBT) teachers in 2000.

The other persons, considered close to Mr Chautala, whose houses were raided by the CBI included a former Political Adviser to Mr Chautala, Mr Sher Singh Badshami; Mr Pradeep Choudhary, a former member of the Haryana Public Service Commission; and the Haryana IAS officer, Dr Harbaksh Singh, a former Managing Director of the Haryana Industries Development Corporation.

While the CBI raided Mr Badshami’s house in Sector 5 of Kurukshetra, Dr Harbaksh Singh received officials from the CBI at his official residence in Sector 24 of Chandigarh. Mr Choudhary, who had been contesting the Kalka seat on the INLD ticket for the past several elections, stays in Sector 2 of Panchkula.

A surprise entry in the CBI’s list of places raided were the houses of Mr Karan Singh Dalal, Congress MLA, at Palwal and here in Sector 15. Mr Dalal had been “exposing misdeeds” of Mr Chautala for the past five years. He also helped Mr Sanjiv Kumar, an IAS officer of the Haryana cadre who acted as the “whistleblower” in the JBT recruitment case before the Supreme Court. Mr Dalal told newsmen waiting outside his house: “I am a little bit surprised...why me when the accused is Mr Chautala? I actively helped Mr Sanjiv Kumar in highlighting the case and taking it to the Supreme Court. May be the CBI wants to investigate that. I am willing to supply all documents against Mr Chautala to the CBI.”

The case was registered on the orders of the Supreme Court. Mr Sanjiv Kumar had alleged that the list of originally selected candidates was replaced by a fake list by the powers that be. He also produced the two lists in the court.

After investigating the case for several months and raiding the houses of Mr Badshami and a former Officer on Special Duty (OSD), Mr Vidya Dhar, the CBI also raided the houses of Mr Sanjiv Kumar and his relatives. It virtually held Mr Sanjiv Kumar responsible for the scam. However, the Supreme Court pulled the agency up for deviating from its brief. The court told the agency in no uncertain terms that it had failed to do what it was told to do. The court, in an unprecedented move, transferred the investigation of cases against Mr Sanjiv Kumar to the Central Vigilance Commissioner. The court also prohibited the CBI from taking action against the officer.

Last month the apex court had given four weeks to the agency to file a report regarding the status of the investigation. Many consider the CBI action against Mr Dalal as an attempt to “put the screws” on Mr Sanjiv Kumar without violating the court orders. Mr Sanjiv Kumar had levelled personal allegations against certain CBI officers in the court. These officers had investigated the scam.

The CBI first reached house no. 80 in Sector 9 here, which is under construction and is believed to have been recently purchased by the Chautala family. From there the agency officers landed at Mr Dalal’s rented house in Sector 15 here. Around 11 a.m. the CBI knocked at the door of Dr Harbaksh Singh. The CBI operations at the officer’s residence here were on till evening.

The CBI officers took his wife to the Punjab National Bank in Sector 8 here where she was made to open her bank locker. It is not known if the CBI seized anything from the locker.

In Sirsa district the raids were conducted on the lavish residence of the Chautalas on the Barnala road in Sirsa town and their Teja Khera farmhouse in Dabwali subdivision. No member of the Chautala family was present during the raids as they were away to Delhi. Sources said the raiding parties confiscated certain documents that might be “related” to the scam.

Later Mr Ajay Chautala told TNS that the documents seized by the CBI related to the transfers of JBT teachers and not their recruitment. He alleged foul play on the part of the Congress government.

CBI spokesman G. Mohanti said in Delhi that the CBI raiding teams stumbled upon recruitment lists of secondary school teachers, Haryana Civil Services and police Sub-Inspectors. The CBI is verifying if there could be something shady in these lists.

Mr Mohanti, however, said that the agency at present would stick to the JBT scam.

Interestingly, the CBI has found a photostat copy of the list of 3206 JBT teachers in the house of Congress MLA Karan Singh Dalal. The CBI will compare the list with the one filed by IAS Sanjiv Kumar in the Supreme Court. The CBI also found Rs 12.5 lakh from house number 2162 of Karan Singh Dalal in Sector 15 here. The CBI has also found a list of properties of the Chautalas along with their photographs from the house of Dalal.

According to the CBI, it recovered only Rs 21 lakh from all the premises it raided. The raids were at the houses of Chautala, Dalal and an IAS officer Dr Harbakhsh Singh.

Raids not at anybody’s behest, says Hooda
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 7
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today said that no external interference from any quarter was made in the functioning of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Mr Hooda was talking to mediapersons here.