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Tehelka case
CBI stings Jaya again
Tribune New Service

New Delhi, December 27
The CBI today chargesheeted Ms Jaya Jaitley, a close associate of former Defence Minister George Fernandes, one of her party colleagues and a retired Major General for alleged bribery and criminal conspiracy in the Tehelka scam.

The charge sheet filed in a special CBI court in Patiala House here, the CBI had also named Opal Pacherwal, a party colleague of Ms Jaitley, who was then chief of the Samata Party, which later merged with the JD(U), and Major-General S.P. Murgai (retd).

The chargesheet filed under various provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code alleged that Ms Jaitley had received Rs 2 lakh as bribe from West End International, a fictitious company floated by news portal Tehelka to expose corruption in defence deals, while Major-General Murgai was accused of receiving Rs 1,20,000 for arranging the meeting of Tehelka representatives with Ms Jaitley.

The CBI also alleged that Ms Jaitley had “further demanded another Rs 5 lakh from Tehelka representatives for getting the evaluation letter issued from the Ministry of Defence in respect of the purported product of M/s West End International”.

This is the seventh charge sheet filed by the CBI in the Tehelka tapes related cases. The first was filed in July 2006 against Ms Jaitley and others.

The case was registered by the CBI on December 6, 2004, investigation by the CBI disclosed that during September 2000 to January 2001 a representative of tehelka.com held a number of meetings with retired Major-General Murgai.

Tehelka had conducted its sting operations to expose corruption in defence procurements during 2000-01. In their pursuit, Tehelka representatives established contact with a number of persons.