SARNATH, PATNA, Nov 6: Pressure is building up on the Government to get to the bottom of the Romesh Sharma affair. Union Home Minister L K Advani has asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe Sharma's alleged nexus with politicians, police and bureaucrats. And the Patna High Court has asked the agency to probe his alleged role in the multi-crore-rupee fodder scam.Talking to reporters at the Buddha Mahotsav at Sarnath today, Advani denied that there were any links between Sharma and Delhi Chief Minister Sushma Swaraj. ``The Union Home Ministry has written a letter to the CBI,'' he said, ``to submit a report on the people in politics, police and administration who are giving protection to criminals.''Without naming Dawood Ibrahim - suspected to have had close links with Sharma - Advani said: ``For some time now, there is one man who is encouraging the criminalisation of politics. Usually he operates from Pakistan or Dubai, searching for instruments to spread lawlessness in the country.It's surprising to find that he has even put a frontman in Delhi, who has been operating for the last two years.''Referring to Sharma, he said he had been booked under the National Security Act. ``But yesterday my ministry wrote to the CBI asking them to give us a report on the criminalisation of politics and give details on this man's links.''Meanwhile, in Patna, the High Court asked the CBI to probe Sharma's involvement in the fodder scam after the agency submitted a report to Justice S N Jha and Justice S J Mukhopadhyaya saying that a team of I-T and police officials were looking into Sharma's links. According to the report, Sharma siphoned off fodder money to real estate.In a related development, the CBI has registered cases against Sharma for his alleged role in getting a passport for the Dubai-based don's mother after the Mumbai serial bomb blasts and forcible acquisition of a helicopter, bureau sources said today. The CBI, which is heading the Inter-Departmental Group (IDG) formed for closelymonitoring various aspects of the probe against Sharma, has also taken over all the documents and papers relating to the cases from Delhi police, they said.It has been alleged that Sharma with the help of the clout he wields in political circles obtained a passport for Ameena Sheikh Kaskar, Dawood's mother, in March 1993 in a very short time after she fled Mumbai in the wake of the serial blasts.The controversial businessman and self-styled politician was also alleged to have forcibly acquired and grabbed a helicopter from Suresh Rao, an owner of a helicopter company, they said, adding the helicopter had initially been provided to Sharma on rent. The investigation into the two cases is being conducted by a team of the Special Task Force (STF) branch of the CBI under the supervision of Deputy Inspector General Neeraj Kumar, they said.CBI sleuths are currently scrutinising the documents and other materials received from Delhi police to ascertain the exact role of Sharma in the cases.In New Delhi,Metropolitan Magistrate K S Mohi remanded Sharma to one day police custody. Crime Branch officials will now interrogate him in connection with the FIR alleging that he conspired with Dawood's men to kill Babloo Srivastava.M M Mohi said in his order: ``The custody of the accused would help the investigating agency unearth the complete conspiracy.''The Public Prosecutor (PP) made a appeal saying that the Crime Branch had procured secret information giving details about Sharma's attempts to provide shelter and financial aid to Dawood in Delhi. ``To corroborate this, we require the cell phone on which Sharma made and received the calls. Therefore, the Crime Branch requires his custody,'' said the PP.The prosecution told the MM that they had monitored Sharma's missing mobile phone by using the listening-watch facility. The conversations between a Dawood associate and Sharma had been recorded on a regular basis.
