NEW DELHI, Nov 6: Shailendra Mahato, approver and the key Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) witness in the multi-crore Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) MPs bribery case, today denied that he was used by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as a ``pawn'' to retaliate against the Congress after party president L K Advani was charge-sheeted in the Hawala case.

Replying to former premier P V Narasimha Rao's counsel's questions before special judge Ajit Bharihoke, Mahato said these statements in his resignation were made under pressure from the Congress and JMM on March 18, 1996. ``I was forced to resign from the BJP by the Congress and the JMM and a typed resignation letter was brought to me, which I signed under pressure from these parties and some of the contents in the resignation letter are false,'' he said. He said that many MPs were aware that a bribe was given to JMM MPs after seven or eight days of voting on the no-confidence motion on July 28, 1993. ``But I am not aware whether BJP leaders knew about it when I joined that party in January 1996,'' he added.

Mahato admitted that BJP leader Atal Behari Vajpayee had advised him to meet lawyer Ram Jethmalani on February 26, 1996 after a Delhi newspaper published a report about his bank account.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.