Scam Causes Tremors in TDP

THE arrest of the Telugu Desam Party’s MLA and a former minister in the Chandrababu Naidu ministry, C Krishna Yadav, under Maharashtra Organised Crime Control Act by the special investigation team of Maharashtra police in Hyderabad on the 6th of this month in connection with the multi-crore fake stamp papers scam, which actually came to light in 1999, and the widely published rumours that two ministers, another seven MLAs and some police officers were involved in the scam are causing tremors in the ruling party and the government.  Yadav was remanded to police custody till 20th of this month by the special judge of Maharashtra Organised Crime Control Act Court for his complicity in the scam.

 The Maharashtra police had in their possession a taped conversation between Krishna Yadav and Kareem Telgi, the kingpin behind this mega scam of about an estimated Rs 3000 crore extending to several states and a follower of the mafia don, Dawood Ibrahim, which provides clinching evidence to the effect that Yadav demanded Rs 2 crores and received Rs 50 lakhs from Telgi.  In the face of this damaging predicament, the TDP leadership was forced to suspend Yadav from the party.  However, the developments relating to this racket have already caused considerable damage to the ruling establishment and cast aspersions on its credibility on several counts.

A case was registered in Begum Bazar police station on August 5, 1999, following a complaint by Vysya Bank manager suspecting that the stamps supplied by Venkateswara Enterprises were fake and after one week forty accused, including Abdul Kareem Telgi, were arrested. Telgi, who claimed that he received stamps from one Ashish Chakravarti of Kolkata, was taken on police remand to Mumbai and Kolkata for investigating and was released on bail on September 20 that year. Chakravarti surrendered in court and denied his involvement in the case on April 28, 2000.  The case was handed over to the CBCID in Andhra Pradesh on December 17, 1999. Another case was registered in IV Town police station in Visakhapatnam on April 3, 2000 and stamp papers worth Rs 5.56 crore were seized. Seized stamps were sent to India Security Press on December 6, 2000 for expert opinion which was received on April 30, 2002 only.  No charge sheets have been filed in these cases so far.

Scrutiny of the final investigation report submitted by the investigating officer of the CBCID on August 31, 2002, revealed many gaps in the evidence collected and analysis against the accused and after returning the same on the November 22^, that year, the revised report was resubmitted on July 17^, this year, according to the information provided at a media conference the chief minister, N Chandrababu Naidu, held on 9th of this month in Hyderabad.

Stung by the carping criticism that the CBCID wilfully delayed investigations in the four-year-old case in order to shield the culprits and the possible collusion of some of the  senior police officers with the scamsters, the chief minister announced his decision to institute an inquiry by a senior IPS officer into the role of the police in the scam.  Chandrababu also announced that he would request the government of India to order a CBI probe into the scam.  He also revealed that in August 2002 he requested the CBI to take up the investigations into the fake stamp papers scam but to no avail. The justification sought to be provided by the chief minister for a CBI probe on the ground that it was an inter-state scam does not absolve his government of the responsibility to bring the culprits in the scam to book.  When the Mumbai police could actively investigate into this inter-state scam and book the culprits, the inordinate delay by the CBCID in Andhra Pradesh in completing investigations and filing charge-sheets is a reflection on the kind of governance by the Naidu government.

 The chief minister quoted the Maharashtra DGP to the effect that no more politicians or police officers from Andhra Pradesh were involved in the scam.  That might be the case as of now on the basis of the record of evidence available with the Mumbai police.  But the special investigation teams of the Mumbai police are presently investigating in West Godavari and Kurnool districts in connection with the scam. Though the fake special adhesive stamps, foreign bill stamps, insurance stamps and share transfer stamps were being used for agreements between financial institutions, banks and other parties, causing substantial loss of revenue to the exchequer running into hundreds of crores of Rupees, the seeking of CBI probe into the scam is being seen as a ploy to further delay the much-delayed investigation into the case and to influence the course of subsequent investigation in the face of stern moves of the police of Maharashtra.  It is also seen as an admission on the part of the state government of its inability, wilful or otherwise, to prod its investigative machinery to act effectively in the case.

Politically, the leadership of the ruling TDP cannot exonerate itself of the charge of encouraging criminal elements.  Incidentally, Krishna Yadav was one of the 45 candidates who figured in the list of candidates with criminal background, released by Lok Satta, a voluntary organisation, contesting in the elections in 1999.  It is obvious that the belated expulsion of Krishna Yadav from the party is not out of any commitment for saner politics but of compulsion in the face of exposure with clinching evidence. 

The CPI(M) demanded enquiry by a sitting judge of the High Court into the fake stamp papers scam.  B V Raghavulu, state secretary of the CPI(M), lashed out at the government for foisting non-bailable cases against those who were agitating on people’s issues,  and  extending treatment of high dignitaries to  mafia gangs committing offences.The key role of Krishna Yadav in the scam is indicative of degeneration of moral values in the ruling TDP.  It is a mega political scandal and it should be treated as such.  Without making the report of the government of Maharashtra in the case and without the state police investigating into the scam, it was not proper on the part of the home minister to state that no other TDP people were involved in the scam, Raghavulu commented. Through this announcement the home minister indirectly ordered the police not to touch the TDP people in the scam. 

That the DGP of Andhra Pradesh announced that the TDP people had no involvement in the scam showed that he was acting as an agent of the ruling party, Raghavulu asserted.  Referring to the reports in the media that the accused in the scam were arrested in the mess of police officers in Hyderabad, he said it showed the kind of links the police had with criminals.  He demanded the government to make the report given by the special investigation team of Maharashtra public and said that, if the government felt that it would hinder investigation, the report should be shown to the floor leaders of all the parties by convening a meeting with them. Referring to the resignation of the minister for panchayat raj in connection with a scandal of stationery purchase, scandals relating to scholarships and involvement of higher officials in the scandal of purchase of timers, Raghavulu commented that it looked like a government of scams. (MVR)