NEW DELHLB.R. Lal, a Joint Director in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) who had been handling the Rs 65 crore sensational hawala case involving 115 politicians and bureaucrats, has been divested of this responsibility.
Lal is the last of the team of officials originally investigating the case to be moved. Lal’s ouster took place quietly compared to the storm caused when one of his junior officers Amod Kant,a DIG rank officer, was shunted out of the bureau. Kant was reportedly penalized for going out of the way to investigate the hawala case, which could have far-reaching political, implications.
Interestingly, the Rao Government has shunted out all officers who were in any way connected with the case ‘one by one and on one pretext or i.e. other. The Director of Enforcement was shifted in a dramatic development one fine morning on the ground of promotion for doing a excellent job. The Deputy Director in the office of the Director-general of Investigation in the Income Tax Department) was also transferred. However, D.C. ‘Agrawal, Deputy Director had to be brought back on the orders of the Supreme Court. Amod Kant who had acquired a name of sons in handling the investigations under the supervision of B.R. Lal was moved. According to highly placed sources in the government, the axe fell on BAR. Lal, an IPS officer, with a reputation of integrity, because he followed the instructions of the Supreme Court to the extent of issuing showcase notices to a large number of important personalities who were named as recipients of the hawala money and bribes running to crores of rupees. Some of the persons who were served with a notice included Central ministers.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 29, 1995
