The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Wednesday, April 4, 2001,
Chandigarh, India

THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS

50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

M A I N N E W S

Middleman held in Verma case
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 3
A day after the arrest of B.P. Verma, removed as Chairman of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), and three others, the CBI has arrested K. Vijay Pratap, alleged to be the middleman who bribed the seniormost customs official.

Pratap, absconding ever since the premier investigation agency conducted raids at Delhi and Chennai and registered case under the Prevention of Corruption Act on Saturday, was arrested by the CBI in Chennai last night and has been brought here for questioning, CBI sources said.

According to the preliminary case registered by the CBI, Pratap had come to Delhi on March 23 and had handed over a large sum of money to Verma’s son Siddarth to get undue favours for the Chennai-based firm A.K. Enterprises in evading customs duty on imports and also for getting duty draw back on exports.

“Pratap had stayed in a five-star hotel in the capital where he allegedly handed over crores of rupees to Verma’s son, Siddarth as bribe,” the sources said.

Pratap is the fifth person to be arrested in connection with this case.

Verma, his son Siddarth, Bhawna Pandey, an alleged conduit of Verma, and Sharavanan, partner of A.K. Enterprises in Chennai, the firm which had offered bribe to Verma, were also arrested by the CBI.

The questioning of Pratap will be of great help to the CBI to tie the loose ends in the case and to get more evidence about the kind of links he had with the country’s seniormost Customs official.

The CBI had yesterday secured five days’ remand of Verma, his son Siddarth and his business associate Bhavana Pandey.

Soon after his remand, Verma complained of breathlessness and was admitted to Safdarjung Hospital, where a team of doctors are attending on him.

“We will resume his (Verma’s) interrogation once he is discharged from the hospital,” a top CBI official told The Tribune.

Meanwhile, anti-corruption branch officials of the CBI grilled Siddarth and Bhawna for several hours this morning to ascertain their exact involvement in the case.

In a two-day long simultaneous raids in 15 places in Chennai and Delhi, which concluded on late Saturday night, the CBI claimed to have recovered assests worth crores of rupees.

These included Rs 24 lakh worth investment in Unit Trust of India and LIC, jewellery worth Rs 24 lakh, Rs 1.4 lakh in cash, $ 1500, household goods worth Rs 16 lakh, besides a bank balance of Rs 7 lakh.

Cops fail to locate Zaffarwal
Prabhjot Singh
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 3
The police and intelligence agencies have reportedly stepped up vigil following reports that Wassan Singh Zaffarwal, chief of the Khalistan Commando Force (Zaffarwal), was in the city last night.

Sources in the police reveal that some parties did go out late last night to look for Zaffarwal and his accomplices at a couple of places, including one in Sector 34 and another in Sector 15, but returned without any success. The police parties, according to sources, reached the places where one of most wanted militant leaders was reported to be present.

Sources in the police on the condition of anonymity confirmed that Wassan Singh Zaffarwal had left Switzerland for an unknown destination some weeks ago. Sources neither denied nor confirmed that he has been currently in Punjab.

Zaffarwal, they maintain, left India a long time back. His family, including wife and children, however, stayed back. His parents, brothers and sisters too are here. The police and intelligence agencies also got in touch with a Punjab minister, who is supposed to be close to Zaffarwal, to ascertain his whereabouts. The minister, however, expressed his ignorance about the movements of the KCF chief.

Meanwhile, Mr Gurpartap Singh Riar, President of the local unit of the Shiromani Akali Dal, in a statement denied that Zaffarwal was present at the reception of his son in Sector 15 last night. "I have no connection whatsoever with Mr Wassan Singh Zaffarwal. It was a social function and several prominent persons, including Mr Didar Singh Bains of the USA, and two Punjab Cabinet Ministers, Dr Rattan Singh Ajnala, and Mrs Satwant Kaur Sandhu, besides the local MP, Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal, former Union Ministers, Mr Harmohan Dhawan and Mr Venod Sharma, the local BJP chief, Mr Dharam Paul Gupta, and the Mayor, Mr Raj Kumar Goyal, were present," he added.

Meanwhile, the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) Chief, Capt Amarinder Singh, has demanded a CBI probe into the alleged free movement of the Khalistan Commando Force chief Wassan Singh Zaffarwal, a proclaimed offender.

The PPCC chief said that Zaffarwal, who was wanted in several cases of heinous crime, was reportedly moving freely in Punjab and Chandigarh.

“The failure of the Punjab police to nab him clearly proves the close nexus between the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal and the militants. Militants like Wassan Singh Zaffarwal were responsible for killing of a large number of innocents, both Hindus and Sikhs,” he said.

Captain Amarinder Singh said that during the Majitha byelection, the issue was raised when a letter purportedly written by Zaffarwal asking voters to support the Shiromani Akali Dal candidate was enough to prove their charge. “But now the failure of the government to arrest him has corroborated our earlier allegation,” he said hoping that the Union Government would order a CBI enquiry into the whole episode.