CBI seeks Govt nod to prosecute Mahanta

GUWAHATI, November 16: Even as Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta insists that he was not involved in the multi-crore Letters of C...

GUWAHATI, November 16: Even as Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta insists that he was not involved in the multi-crore Letters of Credit (LoC) scandal, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has apparently written to the Union Law Ministry seeking its approval to prosecute him.

According to local daily Northeast Times, the CBI has confirmed Mahanta’s involvement in the LoC scam and is now awaiting Govt approval to prosecute him. The newspaper quotes a letter allegedly written by the CBI to the Assam Governor on November 3, informing him that the agency had completed the probe and had shortlisted the names of six politicians, including Mahanta, in the case.

The CBI is stated to have registered a case (No RC/3(A)/94/ ACU/2) under Section 197 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) against these politicians.A copy of the final report with relevant documents is reported to have been sent to the Union Cabinet Secretary.

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According to the report, there are certain differences of opinion between the CBI legal advisor and his deputy on whether the evidence against Mahanta was strong enough to prosecute him or not.

However, Chief Minister Mahanta has refused to comment on the matter. He stated that whatever he had to say would be said in a court of law.

The other five names reported to have been mentioned in the CBI letter to the State Governor are: former Chief Minister Hiteswar Saikia, his eldest son and former State Youth Congress chief Debabrata Saikia, former State Congress president Nakul Das and former Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) Ministers BP Telanga and Dilip Saikia.

Earlier, on November 10, the CBI had told the Guwahati High Court that it had completed the LoC probe and was waiting for the Union Law Ministry to clear certain doubts which had arisen within the agency’s legal cell. On the same day, CBI Director R C Sharma had told newspersons that the agency had already “examined” the Assam Chief Minister about two months ago.

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