Two months after the Congress-led government wound up the Phukan Commission looking into the Tehelka expose, the CBI today registered cases of criminal conspiracy and ‘‘illegal gratification’’ against 10 persons, including former BJP president Bangaru Laxman and Samata Party leader Jaya Jaitly. Filing five cases under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the IPC, the CBI promised ‘‘further action, shortly’’ as scrutiny of the documents handed over by the erstwhile commission progresses. While Jaitly faces charges of taking money for the ‘exercise of personal influence with a public servant,’ Bangaru has also been charged with taking money in his capacity as a public servant. Besides the two, the accused also include three top-level bureaucrats from the Ministry of Defence, a Kanpur-based industrialist, a retired Major General and a Jaitly-aide. According to the FIRs, which quote extensively from an investigation report prepared by former Tehelka journalists Matthew Samuel and Aniruddha Bahal, bribes amounting to lakhs of rupees were paid to the accused by undercover reporters to secure a contract for the supply of hand-held thermal cameras to the Army. ‘‘It has been alleged that. a sum of Rs 2 lakhs was handed over to Gopal Pacherwal (one of the accused) at the instance of Jaya Jaitly during a meeting held at the official residence of the then Defence Minister,’’ the CBI said in its report indicting Jaitly, Pacherwal, Major General (retd) S P Murugai and businessman Surender Kumar Surekha. ‘‘Surekha, through whom Samuel (who allegedly posed as a representative of the fictitious arms-supplier West End International) had approached Jaya Jaitly. was allegedly paid Rs 1 lakh. (and) a number of payments were made to Major General (retd) S P Murugai for his services in this matter,’’ it added. The agency also pointed out that Bangaru, who was paid Rs 1 lakh initially, was demanding further payments ‘‘in dollars.’’ Among others, H C Pant, the then Deputy Director at the MoD, took Rs 60,000 ‘‘in consideration for providing information about the process of Defence procurement and facilitating meetings with other concerned persons.’’ Another MoD official, P Sashi, who is alleged to have introduced the ‘arms dealers’ to Pant, also took Rs 75,500 for his services, the agency said. The last of the Defence Ministry official to be booked today, Assistant Financial Advisor Narender Singh, allegedly took Rs 10,000 for services which included ‘‘mentioning the percentage of commission allegedly required to be paid to different officers.’’ Besides the above persons, two members of Bangaru’s personal staff also find mention in the list of the accused. While Uma Maheshwar Raju was paid Rs 10,000 in cash by the fictitious London-based firm, Satyamurthy had to be content with a gold chain, though he tried to ‘‘follow up the matter and attempted to obtain further payments,’’ the CBI document said.
