Accused in Civil Supplies scam levels charges against Raman

Former manager of Chhattisgarh Civil Supplies Corporation Shiv Sankar Bhatt, one of the accused in the alleged civil supplies scam, has claimed that former chief minister Raman Singh was involved in the crime.

In an affidavit submitted before a court here on Friday, Bhatt alleged that Singh, his cabinet colleagues and top officials of the Corporation and State Marketing Federation were part of a racket.

Raman Singh denied all the allegations leveled against him and other BJP leaders.

Bhatt, in the affidavit, claimed ahead of the 2013 assembly elections Raman Singh and others tried to gather funds by misusing the Corporation.

Funds were collected from rice millers and pulses and gram suppliers, he alleged.

He also alleged that during the tenure of the previous BJP government, 21 lakh fake ration cards were prepared on the directions of the top leaders in the government, which caused a loss of Rs 3,000 crore to the state exchequer.

"I was falsely implicated in the scam," he claimed.

Raman Singh denied the allegations, terming them as the ruling Congress's vendetta politics.

"All these allegations are being leveled by the person who is himself an accused and had served four years in jail. This is just an attempt to malign the BJP's image," the former chief minister said.

These allegations were being cooked up ahead of the Dantewada bypoll of Septmber 23, the BJP leader added.