Khurana Acquitted In Jain Hawala Case

In a landmark judgement, the designated trial court yesterday quashed the Central Bureau of Investigations charge-sheet against former Delhi Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Madan Lal Khurana in the 65-crore hawala scam.

The court also discharged the Jain brothers S K Jain, B R Jain, N K Jain and their manager J K Jain, who were co-accused in the case of alleged bribe of Rs three lakhs to Khurana in November 1989.

Special judge V B Gupta in his 66-page order said that CBI had failed to produce any evidence which could be converted into legal evidence to prosecute Khurana. I hold prima facie that there is no evidence against any of the accused persons which can be converted into legal evidence, the judge observed.

He said, if the evidence (Jain diaries) were not admissible against L K Advani and V C Shukla, those could not be used against other accused.

There is no material on record for framing the charges against any of the accused persons and as such the case of prosecution has failed and all the accused are hereby discharged, Gupta said.

Khuranas name had allegedly been initialled as MLK and Khurana in the two Jain diaries, described by the Delhi High Court as inadmissible evidence unless corroborated by some independent evidence, while quashing the charges against BJP chief L K Advani and former Union minister V C Shukla last month.

Khuranas counsel Arun Jaitley during arguments on charge had pleaded for discharging Khurana, contending that there was no independent evidence against him and even his name had not been clearly mentioned in the Jain diaries, which no more had any evidentary value.

Gupta said the prosecution had failed to show whether Khurana entrusted with any property had dishonestly issued or disposed it off.

There is not an iota of allegation or material in the CBI chargesheet against Khurana, Gupta said.

Reacting to the court ruling, a beaming Khurana said the allegation against me was politically motivated, but I have emerged triumphant.

Hundereds of BJP workers outside the court burst crackers and shouted slogans minutes after the order discharging Khurana was pronounced.

The slogans like dili ki shan and khurana ji ka naam hai rent the air for long and Khurana, accompanied by his two sons, the Delhi ministers H S Balli and S D Ratwal, and about 38 MLAs, was taken in a procession to BJP chief L K Advanis house.