Sukh Ram In London, To Return Next Week

This correspondent reached the house -- 148, Johnstone Road in Thorpe Bay, a suburb of Southend on Sea -- late yesterday evening. A Mercedes Benz sparkled on the road outside the house.

Sukh Ram's daughter opened the door slightly, but refused to grant an interview with the former communications minister. "He will make a statement when he returns to India," she said. She refused to say when he would return.

"He has come here for treatment, as you know," she said. The mystery about Sukh Ram's whereabouts ended when his son-in-law telephoned the Indian High Commission in London earlier in the day to assure them that the former minister intends to return to India in the next few days.

 

Sukh Ram's son-in-law, Dr S. Vasisht, a general practitioner, said the former minister was undergoing medical treatment in England. He said that Sukh Ram had returned to England from the US three days ago. The CBI has asked the Indian High Commission to formally tell the minister that he should "contact the CBI on arrival in India and also intimate his travel plans". Dr. Vasisht said that his father-in-law was too unwell to face the media and the police immediately. Sukh Ram had originally planned to travel to Houston where he had earlier undergone treatment for a heart condition. It is not known yet whether Sukh Ram actually reached Houston or altered his travel plans after reaching the US.

CBI officials appear to be confident that Sukh Ram is not about to go underground and, consequently, they seem willing to give him a few days to return to India.

The re-appearance of Sukh Ram has ended the weeklong speculation about his whereabouts. In the last two days, evidence from airline records indicated that the former minister had returned to Britain.