Enough Proof To Nail Kalpnath Aide: Cbi

The CBI yesterday told the Terrorist and Disruptive (Prevention) Activities (Tada) court here that there was sufficient documentary evidence to prove the links of terrorists allegedly harboured in the NPTC guest house in 1992 at the instance of S P Rai, personal assistant of former Union minister Kalpnath Rai with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. CBI counsel N K Sharma told special Tada judge S N Dhingra that the court should take into consideration these documentary evidence in the event of the witnesses becoming hostile for fear of the underworld don.

Quoting from the statement of former CBI director K Vijaya Rama Rao, recorded as evidence by the court, Sharma said that the former CBI chief had admitted the existence of Dawoods network in the country and even getting help from some custom and police officials.

 

The prosecution counsel said that Rama Rao had even said that he could not rule out the possibility of politicians having links with the underworld don.

Considering this aspect and the overall view of terrorist activities around the world and in the country where mafiosi and underworld dons were getting help from politicians and higher-ups, the court should consider the difficulty of investigating agencies in collecting evidence, Sharma said.

Meanwhile, the court directed Kalpnath Rais counsel to raise the point, if any, regarding recording of acquital order under Section 232 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) during the arguments today.

Rai had moved an application on Thursday under CrPC 232, claiming that there were no evidence against him and the court should record order for his acquittal.