NEW DELHI: In an unprecedented development, a Delhi Court recently issued summons to former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, making him a caucused in the $100,000 cheating case filed against Chandraswamy by NRI businessmen Lakhu bhai Pathak. The order was passed by chief metropolitan magistrate Prem Kumar on an application filed by Shyam Sunder of All India Lawyers’ Forum of Civil Liberties. Mr. Rao, who has been directed to appear in the court on July 24, is likely to move the Delhi High Court for anticipatory bail and quashing the order passed by the chief metropolitan magistrate. The application demanding proceedings against Rao were made last week following the statement of the UK based businessman that he paid $100,000 to Chandraswamy and his aide Kailash Nath Aggarwal alias Mamaji only after an assurance from the former prime minister that his (Pathak’s) work would be done.
In his original complaint to the CBI in 1987, Mr, Pathak had alleged that the self-styled god man along with his aide had cheated him by making false promises of securing for him a contract for supply of newsprint and paper pulp to India. Appearing in the court last week, the NRI businessman claimed that he made the payment to Chandraswamy only after an assurance from Mr. Raoin December 1983 that his work would be done, According to Mr. Pathak, Mr. Rao, the then external affairs minister, gave the assurance in a New York hotel Holorum House in the presence of Chandraswamy. “Swamiji has told me everything, your work will be done,” Mr. Pathak quoted the former prime minister as having told him.
The court’s order marks yet another blow to the beleaguered Congress (1) president, already reeling under the charge of having bribed Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MPs and the suspicion that his son was involved in the Rs 133crore urea import scam. The latest of a series of setbacks that Rao has of late suffered is also likely to rekindle the demand within the Congress (I) for change of leadership. A shocked loyalist camp in the party was busy trying to mount a salvage operation. IL lost no time in calling an informal meeting of the Congress Working Committee for securing an affirmation of faith in Mr. Rao’s leadership. The exercise was expected to be repeated at the meeting of the executive of the Congress party in Parliament.
Coming on the eve of the budget session, the order will be lethal ammunition in the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Efforts to limit the damage were, however, preceded by a display of panic as Mr. Rao Called off all his engagements, including a scheduled meeting with the party’s office bearers. Newsmen were turned away from his residence as the former prime minister went into a huddle with the ‘ultra loyalists’ and lawyers. A visit by Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, however, appeared to have lifted the spirits, encouraging the Rao camp to call the informal meeting of the CWC.
The development also represents a setback for the CBI as the investigating agency had objected to Mr. Pathak’s allegations against Mr. Rao on the grounds that the latter’s name did not figure in the case. The chief metropolitan magistrate, however, rejected the contention of the agency, asserting that the court could very well summon an additional accused. The CMM who cited a Supreme Court’s ruling to buttress his contention also observed that prima facie there was no motive for falsely implicating Mr. Rao. The order which highlights the nexus between politicians and controversial persons like Chandraswamy also runs against the recent claim of Rao that he was not close to the god man.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 10, 1996
