CBI chargesheets Bangaru in Tehelka expose case

 

NEW DELHI: After nearly 15 months of probe into the Tehelka expose, the Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday chargesheeted former Bharatiya Janata Party president Bangaru Laxman for allegedly taking bribe from representatives of a fictitious armament firm for trying to influence public servants in a weapons deal.

 

The chargesheet against Lakshman, filed before Special CBI judge IK Kocchar alleged the investigations had disclosed that during a period of around two weeks between December 23, 2000 to January 6, 2001, representatives of the web portal
Tehelka, who were posing as representatives of a London-based arms company, had met the former BJP chief three times and two of his personal staff five times, the CBI said.
    
At the meetings, the company representatives had held "detailed discussions with the former (BJP) President and sought his assistance and patronage in getting favourable orders from the Ministry of Defence in respect of hand-held thermal imagers offered to be supplied by the (fictitious company) West End International for the use of the Indian Army."
    
Simultaneously, they offered Rs 5 lakh to the then BJP president, out of which the "first payment of Rs 1 lakh was received by the president on January 5, 2001 and for the balance amount, when the said persons enquired from the president as to his preference for having the same in rupees or dollars, Laxman gave the preference for dollars," the CBI said.
    
Laxman, while reacting to the fresh developments, claimed he was clean and all the stories about him had been made up by Tehelka and purchased by CBI for political persecution.

During the discussions, Laxman is also alleged to have agreed to "intercede with the with the defence secretary on behalf of the (fictitious) firm. He (Laxman) also advised these persons to engage agents for liaison works and further suggested the liaison with the government could be through us (BJP president's office)," the release said.

 

The CBI said it had interrogated Laxman and various other persons, the release said and claimed the former BJP president had taken the plea that the amount of Rs 1 lakh received by him was towards the party fund.

 

Investigations, however, revealed that showing Rs 1 lakh as party funds was an "after-thought" and was done to salvage his image, the CBI claimed.
    
Notwithstanding the defence (of Laxman), the probe disclosed that he was in a position to influence public servants in the matter in the matter relating to obtaining of favourable orders in respect of the Imagers offered for supply to the Indian Army by the fictitious firm for which the bribe money was received by him.

 

"Hence, irrespective of the defence of (Laxman), a prima facie case under Section 9 of Prevention of Corruption Act is made out" against the former BJP president, the CBI said.
    
Samples of Laxman's voice and image and also of others shown in the video shot by Tehelka were taken and the same along with videotapes covering the "meeting" were sent to Andhra Paradesh Forensic Laboratory for expert opinion.

 

The opinion affirmed that the footage was not subjected to tampering and that the voices and images of the former president and others in these tapes matched, the CBI said.

 

 

The CBI had registered a case against Laxman along with two of his personal secretaries -- N Uma Maheshwar Raju alias Raju Venkatesh and Satyamurthy -- under Section 120-B (conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act on December 6, 2004.

 

The case was handed over to CBI after the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government refused to extend the term of Justice Phukan Commission and handed over the probe to the CBI, more than three years after the web portal had made an expose on March 13, 2001 when the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government was in power.

 

However, the CBI said nothing concrete could be found against Raju Venkatesh so far and he had been named in column two of the chargesheet that means that investigation against him would continue.

 

As far as Satyamurthy was concerned, the CBI had appealed to the court to grant him pardon as he had been made an approver in the case after he recorded a confessional statement before a magistrate.

 

CBI sources said Satyamurthy had alleged in his statement that backdated entries were made in BJP's account books to accommodate Rs 1 lakh allegedly taken by Laxman from representatives of the fictitious weapon firm.

 

The CBI has recorded nine cases in the Tehelka expose that includes a case of corruption against the then President of the Samata Party Jaya Jaitley.

 

A political storm was set off when the Tehelka tapes were made public in March 2001, leading to the resignation of Laxman and then defence minister George Fernandes who was, however, reinducted.

 

Embarrassed over the chargesheeting of its former president, the BJP said it had nothing to say.
    
"Do we react on such things? We have nothing to say," BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said, when asked about his comments on the chargesheeting of Laxman, who had to quit as party president after the Tehelka expose.