Fraud scientist takes RSS for a ride down Lord Ram146;s bridge

He passed himself off as 8220;Dr8221; Puneesh Taneja and flaunted visiting cards and stationery identifying himself as 8220;Senior Research Scientist/Additional Secretary, Department of Space, Prime Minister8217;s Office, South Block, New Delhi.8221;

These cards, obtained by The Sunday Express, are embossed with the logo of the Indian Space Research Organisation.

Sources said Taneja told the RSS that he was on a two-year leave from the Government and that he was with ISRO. There are red faces in the saffron brotherhood because many within the RSS were taken in by these cards and even saw Taneja as a 8220;linkman8221; between the RSS and the UPA Government.

So much so that he was made a fulltime pracharak in 2005 and began operating from an RSS flat in Noida.

8220;ISRO has no relation with this man. We have not heard of him at all. The Additional Secretary, Department of Space, is an IAS officer. He is S V Ranganath, he sits in Bangalore. Also, the Sethusamudram project has no connection with ISRO,8221; ISRO director for information S Krishnamurthy told The Sunday Express in Bangalore.

The Sunday Express met Taneja at his residence and asked him why he was impersonating as a PMO officer. Taneja denied he had anything to do with the PMO but claimed there was a 8220;threat to his life8221; as he was 8220;doing research8221; on the Sethusamudram project.

8220;Everybody has a mission in life, Sethusamudram is my mission,8221; he said. 8220;I moved into this flat days ago and have sought protection from RSS leader Ram Madhav. The only time I have come out in the public is when I addressed the media with Ashok Singhal on Sethusamudram.8221; Taneja admitted he was not a scientist adding, however, that he was 8220;researching8221; the canal project. When asked about his academic credentials, he said he didn8217;t want to comment.

But few in the RSS were suspicious.

For, last month, Taneja even held a press conference in the capital with VHP chief Ashok Singhal who slammed the Government on the project. Defying all scientific evidence, the VHP and RSS officially urged the UPA Government to re-route the project claiming it would destroy the 8220;Rama Sethu8221; built by Lord Ram to Lanka to rescue Sita. The Sangh even threatened to launch an agitation against the Centre in case the canal8217;s route isn8217;t changed.

When contacted today, RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav admitted that Taneja was an RSS pracharak. When asked about the alleged forgery, Madhav said: 8220;We have received some complaints about some of the activities of Mr Taneja outside the RSS. The RSS leadership feels these complaints have enough substance to warrant his immediate removal as pracharak.8221;

The project

8226; Dredging a 167-km channel across the Palk Strait, between India and Sri Lanka, so that ships, travelling between east and west, get direct passage through Indian waters rather than circumnavigating Lanka. Cuts sailing time by 30 hrs.

The fake scientist

8226; The RSS and VHP want the ship channel project to be rerouted to protect the coral structures they claim is the sethu built by Lord Ram to get to Sri Lanka and rescue Sita. They want it to be recognised as a World Heritage site.

The science

8226; Geological Survey of India study found that the Sethu isn8217;t manmade but a result of sedimentation of clay, sandstone and limestone. NASA calls it a tomobolo, a bar of sand connecting one island with another that usually indicates a constant sediment source.

with Vikas Dhoot 038; ENS, Bangalore