Raipur, Jul 22: The Congress in Chhattisgarh has released a CD of a cooperative bank fraud accused's narco test, in which he says that bank officials paid Rs 1 crore each to CM Raman Singh, his two senior cabinet ministers and the then DGP before the bank went bankrupt in 2006.
"A court of chief judicial magistrate (CJM) had allowed narco-analysis and brain mapping test of Umesh Sinha, one of the accused in the bank fraud case in June 2007. But the BJP government suppressed the findings as the accused had revealed money having been paid to senior politicians of the ruling party", Bhupesh Baghel, Congress leader and a former state minister, told reporters.
"We are challenging the BJP government to dispute the CD and its contents. Why the report of narco-analysis test was not submitted during trial for so long?" he said.
Congress alleged that the state government kept the narco-analysis report secret for the last six years.
In August, 2006, Raipur-based Indira Priyadarshimi Mahila Nagarik Cooperative Bank went bankrupt after the board of directors allegedly siphoned off over Rs 54.38 crore through false fixed deposit receipts (FDR), demand drafts, pay orders and distribution of loans to ineligible persons on the basis of fake documents.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) revoked the bank's licence in September 2007.
The Congress leader pointed out that bank's liquidator and the registrar (firm and societies) had recommended handing over the probe to CBI in 2009, but the BJP-ruled government maintained a stony silence.
Quoting from the transcripts of narco-analysis test, Baghel said the accused paid money to two senior ministers- Ram Vichar Netam and Brij Mohan Agrawal- apart from the CM and the DGP.
The Chhattisgarh government today termed the charges as "baseless and politically motivated".
"This CD of narco-analysis test is not a new thing. It was in state's official records for long and it was given to those who had applied under the Right of Information (RTI). Anybody can obtain it through RTI", state minister Brij Mohan Agrawal, who was himself named in the CD, said.
"If the government wanted to influence and interfere in the investigations, police would not have filed an application in the court seeking narco-analysis and brain mapping test of the accused," he said.
Asked why the state government did not hand over the case to CBI, the minister said the state police had successfully probed the case and had filed the charge-sheet.
