Chandigarh, October 13
“We are open to an inquiry by the Enforcement Department into the Punjab Intranet case,” says the Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, rejecting the demand of the Shiromani Akali Dal for referring it to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Replying to a debate on the Nehra Commission report in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha this afternoon, the Chief Minister further held that the matter would be referred neither to the CBI nor a case filed against the newspaper — Hindustan Times — that was indicted by the commission.
Earlier, the Shiromani Akali Dal President, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, wanted that the Nehra Commission report should be consigned to the dustbin and the entire case handed over to the CBI for a detailed probe.
“If the Chief Minister is so sure of his innocence, then why not refer it to the CBI so that the whole truth comes out?” asked Mr Badal maintaining that the state had no powers to constitute a commission on a subject which was under Central Government control.
The debate was initiated by the Finance and Planning Minister, Mr Surinder Singla, who suggested that the House should not only constitute a committee to ensure that no one was defamed by false and politically motivated allegations but also discuss the 1975 Chhangani Commission report against Mr Badal. He criticised the Akalis saying none could dare appear before the Nehra Commission fearing prosecution for deposition based on falsehood. “It was unprecedented in the history of Indian parliamentary democracy for a Chief Minister to set up a commission of inquiry against his own son.”
Interestingly, Mrs Preneet Kaur, MP, and wife of the Chief Minister, was in the visitors gallery throughout the debate on the Nehra Commission report.
“Rather, we may file a case against those who tried either to use the newspaper or offered ‘double gaffa’ or to LA Freeke, a key player in the whole episode,” said the Captain while winding up his reply to the two-hour debate on the report.
The Leader of the Opposition, the Chief Minister, said was perhaps not aware what the CBI, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) were all about.
“All five key players mentioned in the whole episode were not genuine. We got everything authenticated and realised that they either do not exist or could not be reached,” said the Captain while reading out reports notarised by Indian missions abroad.
“We had passed on all documents and the Nehra Commission report to the Enforcement Directorate in September last year. In April, the ED had sent a questionnaire to the Department of Information Technology. As such, the ED investigations have been going on for the past one year,” he said, maintaining that the Punjab Government had started its
own investigation after the first letter came to its notice in August, 2004.
“LA Freeke would never come and depose as he knows he would be charged with perjury in the Netherlands for making contradictory statements. Further, he wanted total immunity for his deposition before the commission,” he added.
Mr Surinder Singla accused the Akalis of running away from the Commission. Instead they were trying to knock at the door of the Delhi High Court, the Punjab and Haryana Court and the Supreme Court but had got nothing.
He said that both the Akalis and Freeke had one thing in common. Both stayed away from the commission but were playing into each
others hands to defame the Chief Minister and his family. Since it was all imaginary, nothing could be proved against the Chief Minister and his family.
Mr Badal said that since it was an important issue, more time should have been given for discussing the report. Recalling the demand made earlier by the Shiromani Akali Dal for setting up a commission of inquiry against the previous Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state, Mr Badal said that then the Chief Minister had turned down the suggestion that “Inquiry commissions are only a waste of time as nothing comes out of them.”
“Further, if the commission was sincere in finding out the truth, it could have used the services of any official of the state or the Central Government or any agency of the state or the Centre to arrive at the truth. But it did not say so as its brief was to bail out the Chief Minister and his family. Further, the state had no jurisdiction to constitute a commission of inquiry into a subject which was under the control of the Centre. As such, the best place for this report was the dustbin.
“It is not true that we did not get any relief from the courts. The Punjab and Haryana High Court wanted to take cognisance of our petition only after the report has been discussed in the Vidhan Sabha. It is not the end of it. Rather, this is a prolonged battle and we want to take it to its logical conclusion,” Mr Badal added.
