Author:
Publication: The New Indian Express
Date: November 24 2003
In a new twist to the multi-crore
fake stamp racket that has rocked the country, Jayant M Tinaikar, who brought
the Rs 30,000 crore scam to light has alleged that Congress president Sonia
Gandhi, Chief Minister S M Krishna and AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi
Azad, besides Small Scale Industries Minister Roshan Baig are involved
with racket kingpin Kareem Lala.
Besides, Tinaikar has also alleged
that most of the top Congress leaders in the State were part of the scam
and only CBI investigation would bring out the truth.
Speaking to mediapersons on Sunday,
Tinaikar also alleged that many senior police officers in the State, including
former city joint commissioner B N Nagaraj and inspector Soudhagar were
''hand-in-glove'' with Lala, while officers like Madiyal and Sri Kumar
watched helplessly, owing to political pressure.
Stating that he did not belong to
any political party, Tinaikar said that barring some small politicians
like former Khanapur legislator Ashok Patil, he said that other than Congress
leaders, members of no other political party were involved with Kareem
Lala.
Answering questions, Tinaikar said
the State Government was always trying to hush up the investigation. ''If
the tape containing Telgi's confession before former city police commissioner
H T Sangliana are made public, the names of most politicians will come
out. The tapes submitted by State police to Mumbai court does not have
a name of a single police officer or politician from the State. The State
officials have tampered the original tapes before handing over to Mumbai
police,'' he charged.
The Government's decision to issue
a Government Order under Section 268 of CrPC, prohibiting Lala from being
moved out of the State was an evidence for Government's fear over fair
investigation. ''I had informed Madiyal on whereabouts of Lala, who did
not take any action. Even after Lala's arrest, State Government did not
allow the investigation to progress. Though the StampIT officials are good,
their hands are tied due to political pressure,'' Tinaikar argued.
''It is a Rs 36,000 crore scam and
we have to find out where the money went. Even if he has spent half the
money on politicians, where is the rest of the money?
''According to our information,
Lala is funding terrorist activities, including serial bomb blast in Coimbatore
and other places,'' Tinaikar said.
