CBI leaks cause ruckus in RS
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Dec 21 — The Rajya Sabha today witnessed uproarious scenes when opposition members objected to what they called selective leakage of names of leading politicians said to be having links with Romesh Sharma.

The matter was raised through a special mention by the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Manmohan Singh, who said, "We are not in favour of protecting anybody and all such persons, howsoever high they may be, should be investigated. But there should not be any selective leakage of names as had appeared in a newspaper today".

The Congress members raised the demand for the government to be directed to make a statement warning the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against these selective leaks. The demand was however rejected by the Chairman, Mr Krishan Kant.

Mr Manmohan Singh said there should not be any attempt to malign political leaders or settle political scores through such selective leaks.

Immediately, Mr Suresh Pachouri, also from the Congress, and some other members belonging to various other opposition parties rose to their feet and demanded that the CBI should be stopped from making such selective leaks and that the Home Minister should make a statement in the House.

Later, after some other members had associated themselves on the issue, Congress members, including Mr Jitendra Prasada and Mr Vyalar Ravi, urged the Chairman to direct the Home Minister to make a statement on the issue. Mr Krishan Kant, however, said he could not do anything if the newspapers printed something which they did not like.

The House also witnessed uproarious scenes for some time during zero hour when Mr Jitendra Prasada accused the BJP of giving a clean chit to its members allegedly involved in the Romesh Sharma case.

When BJP member Narender Mohan tried to raise a point of order, there were noisy scenes and trading of charges between the ruling and opposition members for sometime which Chairman Krishan Kant did not allow to go on record.

Supporting Mr Manmohan Singh, CPI member Gurudas Dasgupta said Romesh Sharma was a political and criminal conduit who obviously enjoyed the patronage of the high and the mighty to build up an empire of his own. He demanded an objective and impartial inquiry into the whole case by the CBI and said there should not be any leakage of names till the investigations were over.

Mr Biplab Dasgupta (CPM) said the CBI should not make selective leaks through the Press and added it was a matter of great concern that the CBI was more interested in publicising the cases instead of investigating them. Politicians were similarly maligned in the hawala case too but later on they were found to be innocent, he recalled.

Mr Venkaiah Naidu (BJP) said the government had no hand in the leakages and appealed that all political parties should exercise restraint and refrain from naming any politician without any basis.

Mr Jayant Malhotra (Ind) said there should not be any pre-motive leakage of names during the investigation and asked the Home Minister not to exonerate individuals on selective basis.

PTI adds: Meanwhile, the CBI on Monday termed as "highly speculative" and "based on surmises and conjectures" a newspaper report stating that 20 politicians and 12 senior bureaucrats had linked with Romesh Sharma, alleged front man of Dubai-based underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.

The newspaper had reported the CBI, which was probing the case of Sharma, now under detention, had submitted a report to the Union Home Ministry seeking directives to interrogate the politicians, bureaucrats and police officers to establish their "direct or indirect links" with him.

The report named four former Chief Ministers, some former Union Ministers, some MPs and a secretary in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) among those figuring in Sharma's "roll call".

A CBI spokesman said: "It is a highly speculative news report based on surmises and conjectures".

The CBI has not sought permission to interrogate any person as reported and that investigation reports would be filed in the courts concerned, the spokesman said.