Already named in the CAG report owing to a Rs 25,000-crore scam in the Meghalaya lottery, Mani Kumar Subba, will have to establish his Indian citizenship before the SC.
A PIL against him alleges that the ‘Lottery King’ is a Nepali
NEW DELHI: Congress MP and lottery king Mani Kumar Subba is faced with a nationality crisis. Already named in the CAG report owing to a Rs 25,000-crore scam in the Meghalaya lottery, an MP from Assam, Subba, will have to establish his Indian citizenship before the Supreme Court.
When the CBI informed the apex court on Friday that it failed to establish Subba as a Nepalese citizen, judges ridiculed the government for relying on “highly suspicious documents” given by the MP from Tezpur and not putting the onus on the MP to prove his nationality.
A Bench comprising chief justice K G Balakrishnan and justice D K Jain pulled up the CBI for its failure to place on record documents relating to Subba’s birth certificate, school certificate etc.
“Prima facie, there are serious allegations and we have to take strong measures,” the bench said. It added that “The CBI is not proceeding in the right direction.”
Birendra Nath Singh, a resident from Noida, alleged in a PIL that the lottery baron was a Nepalese citizen and he had escaped to India after a case of murder against him in the early 1970s.
Subba’s counsel A M Singhvi, however, termed the PIL as a ‘witch hunt’ and additional solicitor general Gopal Subramanium said the CBI had gone all out to probe the matter with the Nepalese government. It had even taken the help of the Interpol, he added. Last year, the court had asked the CBI to find out Subba’s nationality.
It had also expressed surprise at the Union home affairs ministry’s stand that it was for the Election Commission to ascertain the antecedents of Subba, whose farmhouse in Delhi had been raided by CBI officials.
The apex court had earlier issued notice to Subba on a petition that charged him with serious allegations— a multi-thousand crore Nagaland lottery scam, murder, suspicious citizenship, conviction for murder by a Nepal trial court, etc.
The EOW had issued notices to Subba for violation of foreign exchange rules.
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