GUWAHATI, January 23: The Central Bureau of Investigation's legal adviser S K Sharma had told the agency that there was no "documentary or eyewitness evidence" to show that prime accused in the LoC scam R P Bora did indeed give Rs 40 lakh to Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Mahanta.Documents available with The Indian Express show that regarding evidence that Mahanta was aware of fraudulent withdrawals from the Sibsagar Treasury, the legal adviser wrote: "Mens rea (or knowledge on the part of Mahanta) was not fully established".
These are two of the questions to which Assam Governor Lt-Gen (rtd) S K Sinha has sought clarification from the CBI.
Yesterday evening, a set of documents from the CBI arrived at Raj Bhavan here as a response to the Governor's request. Sources say these do not include the conflicting legal opinion on Mahanta's case.
It was in November last year that the Law Ministry's opinion was sought on whether there was a case against Mahanta. The matter also went to Additional
Solicitor General Altaf Ahmed. However, none of them saw the CBI's final report on the case.
Ahmad and the Law Ministry were of the opinion that there wasn't a case against Mahanta under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA). Their notings could answer some of the points raised by Sinha.
On November 10, Ahmed wrote: "The final report has not been made available by CBI. Accordingly, I am recording my opinion in the absence of the final report." On that day, his opinion had been sought on whether the statement of a co-accused was admissible as evidence. Ahmed said yes.
But he clarified in his note dated November 24: "My opinion does not, in the absence of records of the case and documents, constitute an expression of my views on the merit of the case." This time Ahmed had been asked for his opinion on whether Mahanta could be prosecuted under Section 13 of the PCA. His answer was : "The records and documents have not been shown to satisfactorily meet these requirements and those of the provisions of
clause (b) to (e) of Sec 13 of the PCA."
Ahmed's opinion, that "no case is made out so far" against Mahanta, was accepted by the Law Secretary and the Minister. But when the matter went to the Department of Personnel, it was decided that a final view had to be taken from Ahmed. It was decided, however, that documents pertaining to the case had to be presented.
But on November 28, joint secretary, law ministry, A Sinha, wrote: "N P Singh, DIG, CBI spoke to me on the phone. He has stated that the documents are very sensitive in nature and as such it would not be desirable to make the same available."
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
