Second Chargesheet Against Sukh Ram Soon

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will be filing the second charge sheet against former communication minister Sukh Ram, for having acquired assets disproportionate to his known sources of income, very soon.

This will be the second charge sheet that the agency will file against the former minister. The first, relating to alleged pecuniary gain to Hyderabad-based ARM Limited, was filed in the special CBI court earlier this month, after the sanction of President Shankar Dayal Sharma was received. During the course of investigations, CBI had found that the former minister had acquired a house at Kaushambi, in Ghaziabad, on the outskirts of the capital. Property acquired by Sukh Ram in Mandi, Shimla and some other places have also been located.

The CBI has also registered a case against Sukh Rams son, Anil Sharma, a former minister in the Himachal Pradesh government, for having acquired assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. In addition, the agency is also probing a number of deals in the telecom sector, finalised during the tenure of Sukh Ram as communications minister.

Income tax sleuths, investigating whether tax on the assets acquired by Sukh Ram and his family members has been paid in full, have found that the assets acquired by the former minister was valued at over Rs 25 crore. It could not be ascertained whether a notice for the claim has been served on him.

In addition to the CBI and I-T casea, Enforcement Directorate sleuths are probing whether the notings in the diaries and notebooks seized from his residences relate to the former ministers dealing, illegally, in foreign exchange. Last week, ED sleuths interrogated him in connection with these entries.

During the raids at the former ministers residences on August 16 last year, the CBI had found cash over Rs 3.5 crore, besides jewellery worth several lakhs stashed in bank lockers in Sukh Ram and his family members names. Sukh Ram, who was away to London when the raids took place, returned to the country on September 16 and was immediately arrested at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

He was later released on bail by the special CBI court.