No historic files destroyed by home ministry: Rajnath Singh

Home Minister Rajnath Singh Friday said no historic files have been destroyed by the home ministry.

Making a statement in the Rajya Sabha, the home minister said all important files, including those related to Mahatma Gandhi's assassination, are safe.

"Government dumped only about 11,100 redundant files which have no documentary and historical value," Rajnath Singh informed the upper house.

The clarification came as opposition members Wednesday raised concern over historic files being destroyed by the home ministry.

The upper hosue was disrupted as opposition members, quoting media reports, alleged that nearly 1.5 Lakh files, including several historically important files, were destroyed by the home ministry in a cleaning drive.

Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader P. Rajeev said the files contained historic documents like the record of Lal Bahadur Shastri giving his salary to the calamity fund, first president Rajendra Prasad refusing to take his pension, and also a file which had the minutes of a cabinet meeting held just before assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.

Rajnath Singh said: "All the files related to Mahatma Gandhi assassination case are safe and kept intact in the National Archives. No files related to Lal Bahadur Shastri and Rajendra Prasad were destroyed."