Press Note Eng Dt: 13/03/2011 on R K Raghavan

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Press Note                                                                           13^th March, 2011

 

• Gujarat Chief Minister is squandering public money just to save his  skin from the results of his criminal deeds
• Gujarat paid for the unauthorized visits of SIT chairman R K Raghavan to London.
• Gujarat government granted loan of Rs 9570 crore to Tata against investment of 2250 crore just because of Raghavan and Neera Radia.
• Loan to Tata and favour to Raghavan should be thoroughly probed.

Gujarat Chief Minister fears that his criminal deeds will be exposed in the Supreme Court and he will have to go to jail. Just to save his skin in the Supreme Court, he is squandering public money, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Shaktisinh Gohil said today.

Addressing a massive rally of Congress workers in Rajkot, Gohil said that the Chief Minister wants to please SIT chairman at the cost of public money. This is just to save himself. For this purpose, he managed air fare for Raghavan for his personal visit to London, he said.

Gohil pointed out that Raghavan is also attached with cyber cell of the Tata Group of Companies headed by Tata. Raghavan and Neera Radia have helped Tata clinch a deal of Nano in Gujarat causing great loss to the exchequer of the state. He said that though Tata was investing only Rs 2250 crore in Gujarat, he has been granted loan of Rs 9570 crore at never before terms. He has been given loan at a throw away interest rate of 0.01 percent. The repayment of the loan will start after 20 years. Gohil demanded that favours to Raghavan and Tata should be probed by an independent agency.

This press note is being issued to express complete lack of confidence in the Special Investigation Team (SIT) created by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India to investigate the post-Godhra communal riot cases of 2002.

 While the dubious role of Shri Harish Salve, the amicus curiae, has been clearly exposed, the corrupt conduct of Dr. R.K. Raghavan, the Chairman of the SIT also needs to be brought to light. I have definite information that several trips of Dr. R.K. Raghavan to London were financed by the Government of Gujarat in order to win him over. These travel bills of Dr. Raghavan were cleared against all existing rules and norms of financial propriety. These pleasure trips by Dr. Raghavan were purely personal and private in nature and were not connected with the investigations into the post-Godhra communal riot cases. Despite this, the Government of Gujarat willingly cleared all his travel bills to London without raising any objection in order to win his blessings. And, Dr. Raghavan has returned the favour by making sure that the investigations done by the SIT steered clear of senior government functionaries and their political masters including Shri Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat. Further, no initiative has been taken by him or the SIT to probe whether there was any larger conspiracy behind the communal riots. To top it all, he has tried to water down the findings of the enquiry into the allegations made by Smt. Zakia Jafri by recommending that no investigation/enquiry needs to be undertaken any further on some of the very serious charges against Shri Narendra Modi, which have been revealed to be prima facie true during the enquiry. He has also devoted very little time and attention to the investigations of cases of such serious nature. In view of the corrupt conduct of Dr. Raghavan, his response is natural and anticipated. He has totally betrayed the trust put in him by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India.

 I had tried to bring this issue to light in 2009 itself by asking for relevant records under the Right to Information Act, 2005. However, the SIT refused to part with the documents and stated that it was not a “public authority” within the meaning of the Right to Information Act, 2005, since it was only a temporary body formed by the orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India. Section 2(h)(d) of the Right to Information Act, 2005, clearly mentions that a “public authority” means any authority or body or institution of self-government established or constituted by notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government. Following the orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India to create the SIT, the Government of Gujarat has issued a notification creating the SIT. Despite full knowledge of the provisions of law and the notification of the Government of Gujarat, this wrong interpretation of “public authority” was deliberately forwarded by the SIT to conceal the corrupt acts of Dr. Raghavan.

 If Dr. Raghavan denies these facts, he should file an affidavit in the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India and should provide details of all travel bills claimed by him along with documentary support. However, if he accepts these facts to be true, he should own up his guilt and resign from the SIT. Investigations should not only be done fairly but also should be seen to have been done fairly. The SIT with Dr. Raghavan at its head completely fails to inspire such confidence because of his corrupt conduct.

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