Cbi Probing 7 Mps Who Voted Against '93 No-Trust Move

The statement of B N Safaya, former additional private secretary to petroleum minister Satish Sharma, is now proving to be of great help in going ahead in the probe. After recording his statement, alongwith that of several others, the CBI had come to the conclusion that nearly Rs 15 crore were paid to the former petroleum minister between April 1993 and February 1994.

With the CBI now having gathered enough evidence to support the charge that Rs 3.5 crore was paid to the JMM MPs, the spotlight has now turned on all those who voted against the no-confidence motion. Besides, the CBI team is now trying to find out what happened of the rest of the money allegedly paid to Satish Sharma by several industrialists.

 

The role of a group of seven MPs, which had switched loyalties just before the voting on the crucial day of July 28, 1993 is now being looked into by the CBI. The seven names include Haji Ghulam Mohammed Khan, Ram Lakhan Singh Yadav, Ram Sharan Yadav, G C Munda (since expired), Adi Charan Das, Abhay Pratap Singh and Roshan Lal. All of them were then members of Janata Dal (A) and escaped the provisions of the Anti-Defection Act since the strength of JD (A) on the floor of the house was 20.

The day after the voting, newspapers had widely reported that G C Munda had come to the house in an inebriated state. However, Munda's role is not being investigated since he has expired. At the last hearing before a division bench of the Delhi High Court, the CBI had sought two months' time to complete investigations against others in the case. As of now, besides Narasimha Rao, Buta Singh, Satish Sharma and the 4 JMM leaders have been charge sheeted in the case.