NEW DELHI: The shock waves set off by the murder of Naina Sahni have rocked the Ministry of Home Affairs which has issued strict instructions 10 Delhi Police Commissioner Nikhil Kumar not to share any information revealed by Sushil Sharma regarding the involvement of any ministers or Congress leaders, with anyone but Home Minister S.B. Chavan alone.
Since Chavan is leaving for a weeklong tour of People’s Republic of China on Saturday, Nikhil Kumar has been instructed to report the progress of the case directly to Home Secretary K. Padmanabhaiah and no other minister, other than Chavan.
The instructions have created a piquant situation for the usual protocol. ‘The ministry has Rajesh Pilot as the minister of State in charge of Internal Security. Besides him, P.M. Sayeed is the other Minister of State who is directly in charge of the Delhi Police, There is also Ram Lal Rahithe Deputy Minister in the MHA. Despite this, Nikhil Kumar has been instructed to bypass all the ministers and report to Padmanabhaiah.
The instructions were conveyed to Kumar following an public showdown between Pilot and Chavan at a top level meeting last week. The meeting was part of the official briefing to the ministers in connection with the consultative committee meeting scheduled for the next day. Parliamentary Affairs Minister of State Matang Singh had also invited himself to the meeting, since North East was one of the subjects to be taken up at the consultative committee.
At one stage during the meeting, Pilot tried to intervene and was promptly snubbed by Chavan with Matang Singh immediately rushing in support of Chavan, Subsequently, the story of Sushil Sharma’s alleged disclosures about the involvement of central ministers with his dead wife started appearing in a section of the press, giving rise to speculation that the information emanated from the MHA.
Soon afterwards, Pilot left the Capital for a visit to Gujarat. P.M. Sayeed who has all along maintained a low profile, has also made himself scarce, leaving the town for a different destination, Even though Sayeed will be returning to the Capital by Sunday, he appears to be consciously keeping himself deliberately out of the scenario.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 21, 1995
