GUWAHATI, JULY 4: Assam Chief Minister and Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) supremo Prafulla Kumar Mahanta is in fresh trouble on the eve of the Lok Sabha elections. Gauhati High Court has directed the CBI to produce all material it has in its possession which show Mahanta's involvement in the multi-crore letters of credit (LoC) scandal.The directive to the CBI has come in the wake of a PIL being filed in the Gauhati High Court which has challenged Assam Governor S.K. Sinha's turning down a CBI plea to grant permission to prosecute Mahanta for his alleged involvement in the scandal which took place in the state veterinary and animal husbandry department between 1986 and 1993.The court, which issued the directive here yesterday, had earlier heard the petitioner, one Nabin Chandra Kalita, a farmer from Hajo near here, who had challenged the Governor's decision, as also the counsels of Mahanta, the state government counsels and the CBI lawyers for several days, beginning January this year.Appearing for thepetitioner, Supreme Court lawyer L. Nageswara Rao, in his plea contended that, while Mahanta was out and out involved in the massive swindling of public money, Governor Sinha had no authority to seek opinion from others while deciding on the fate of the request for granting sanction.Similar views were also expressed by the CBI standing counsel D.K. Das and G. Singh, who added that the CBI had conducted the investigation in a fair manner, and that only after a thorough probe, sought the Governor's permission to prosecute the chief minister. The CBI, while seeking the Governor's permission, had stated that Rajendra Prasad Borah, the kingpin of the multi-crore scandal, had paid Rs 40 lakh to Mahanta during the 1991 elections, and that Mahanta had travelled from Guwahati to Delhi and back, during his tenure as the Opposition leader in the Assembly in September 1991, on air tickets purchased by Borah.According to the CBI, Borah had also purchased 2,000 bundles of CI sheets in 1991 and had distributed them toseveral organisations in Mahanta's constituency, and Mahanta had distributed a large number of bank drafts in his constituency which were made available by Borah.The Governor, while turning down the CBI plea on February 5, 1998, had stated that while he had found the investigating agency had not provided prima facie evidence justifying prosecution of Mahanta, former Supreme Court chief justice J S Verma and former Supreme Court judge H R Khanna too had concurred his observations and analysis.
