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This is an archive article published on August 6, 2009

Dhumal govt took one year to act on CFSL report

The Himachal Pradesh government took almost one year to give the go-ahead to the state Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau to lodge...

The Himachal Pradesh government took almost one year to give the go-ahead to the state Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau to lodge an FIR against Union Minister of Steel Virbhadra Singh,as it got the voice-test report from the Chandigarh-based Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) in August 2008.

Highly placed sources said the Vigilance Bureau had written to the state home department on August 18 last year,seeking permission to proceed in the case since the CFSL report had confirmed the voice samples of Virbhadra in the tapes.

Since Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal himself heads the home department the file was put before him thrice and discussions at the highest level were held almost half a dozen times but the government decided not to act. Early this year,the law department was approached for its views.

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Even after the Lok Sabha elections were announced and Virbhadra was fielded as a Congress candidate,no decision was taken. It was only last week that the home department finally received orders to write to the DG,Vigilance,“to act in the case in the light of the law department’s opinion”.

Some legal experts,however,feel the CFSL report may not be sufficient evidence. A senior IPS officer said,“The investigating officer will have to work on other supporting evidence,especially relating to money transactions,amount of cash paid and its connection with the pending works.” To strengthen that,the Vigilance Bureau is learnt to have taken into its possession some files,which were under consideration with the department of industries. Mohinder Lal,a former IAS officer who allegedly acted as conduit to fix the deals,died recently. His voice is also said to be on the tapes,which form the basis of the FIR.

The Vigilance had recorded the statements of Lal,who was the Director of Industries in 1988-89. He had allegedly confirmed that he had spoken to Virbhadra and his wife,and that it was his voice on the tapes. But he refused to say anything on who recorded the conversation,said sources.

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