On the trail of the flying godman

In this connection, the CBI had registered a regular case on May 25, 1990, for offences of criminal conspiracy, forgery for the purpose of harming the reputation (of V P Singh), using forged documents (to open an account in the name of Ajeya Singh, son of V P Singh, showing the latter as beneficiary) at St Kitts—an island in the Caribbeans and a centre for off-shore banking— defamation, cheating etc. Chandraswami and his associate Kailash Nath Agrawal alias mamaji left the country as soon as V P Singh took over as PM. R K Dhawan, then a powerful aide of the prime minister, didn’t like the CBI taking over the investigation. Within a few days of the registration of the case on St Kitts forgery, in his maiden speech in the Rajya Sabha on May 29, 1990, by way of special mention, he protested against the transfer of then enforcement director K L Verma, who had been named as an accused in an FIR, and criticised the handing over of the case to the CBI.

Thus, he wanted the enquiries to continue under a director who had been named as accused in the FIR and whose deputy A P Nandey, deputed by him in the earlier regime, had conducted enquiries with the help of Chandraswami mamaji, Lary Kolb, all facing allegations of criminal conspiracy or actual commission in the forgery, fabrication etc. A P Nandey, incidentally had alleged in his confessional statement before the court that before proceeding abroad for enquiries, at the instance of his director, K L Verma, he had met R K Dhawan at his Golf Links house. He had also told the court that at Miami, where he had been taken care of by Chandraswami and his disciple Dev Ketu, he had been connected by the Swami to Satish Sharma over the telephone, who had pressured and coerced him to go ahead with the enquiries. Nandey had also travelled in a private chartered plane, arranged by Kolb, to St Kitts in company of Kolb as well as mamaji.

The CBI made speedy progress. We even informed the assurance committee of Parliament that the investigation was likely to be completed within six months or so. But things changed abruptly after the V P Singh government fell, and was replaced by the Chandra Shekhar government with the support of the Congress and Dr Subramanian Swamy as Law Minister. By strange coincidence, Chandraswami returned to India within 15 days or so. Before he did so, he took care to secure interim anticipatory bail from the Delhi High Court, which was later confirmed, despite strong opposition from the CBI. Chandraswami wouldn’t even comply with the conditions set by the court, that he must cooperate with the investigation and make himself available for questioning by the investigating agency. Five summons from us had no effect.

When the CBI realised Chandraswami’s plans to escape, a red alert was issued to airport authorities to prevent him from doing so and simultaneously the Delhi High Court was moved to cancel his bail. The Court directed him to appear before the CBI on April 1, 1991. Chandraswami, however, proved to be much more powerful than the CBI could have imagined. He threatened and ensured my premature and abrupt transfer. I was joint director (in charge of the case) and on March 26, 1991, I was transferred from the CBI to the BSF. I fought back. When I failed in the administrative tribunal, I filed a revision before the Supreme Court. The court, however, dismissed my petition.

Long years took their toll. A P Nandey, who had confessed in the court and was to be made approver, died. Another important witness, Nahata of Bikaner, was also perhaps not available. Shiv Kumar, our High Commissioner at Port of Spain, had made serious allegations in writing to the cabinet secretary about the intimidation and coercion used by Lary Kolb and mamaji. He had also made some allegations against officers of the MEA. But nothing happened. The investigation in this important case was concluded in 1996 in a state of panic and prosecution, when the Supreme Court intervened and reprimanded the CBI for the long delay. The agency had functioned for the preceding five years under P V Narsimbha Rao, who was himself an accused in the case for conspiracy. I said publicly at the time that it was a ‘‘truncated chargesheet’’.

The St Kitts case is an eye-opener of the manner in which the criminal justice system is gravely threatened.

N K Singh is former joint director, CBI, and currently chairman, Parliamentary Board, Samata Party