The retired Odisha police DG Bidya Bhusan Mohanti removed the veil on Raghav Rajan on Saturday and admitted here that the youth arrested by Kerala police in Kunnur last week is actually his son Bittihotra, who had jumped parole in December 2006.
The Special Investigating Team (SIT) of Kerala police also gave a clean chit to the ex-DGP by stating that he (Mohanti) is innocent and had no role in manufacturing fake academic certificates in the name of Raghav Rajan, which were used by his fugitive son to obtain an MBA degree from a Kerala college and later getting a lucrative job in a public sector bank on impersonation.
“He identified his son after seeing the photographs we showed to him. During interrogation we could not find any role of his father in preparing the forged certificates,” said a member of the investigating police team after interrogating the ex-DGP here for nearly four hours.
The Kerala police officer emphatically said “yes” when reporters asked him whether BB Mohanti was innocent in his son manufacturing the fake academic certificates by the name Raghav Rajan. The police officer however, refused to divulge details on what basis they are giving a clean chit to the former IPS officer.
The Kerala police team had verified with three educational institutions located in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar on Friday and had confirmed that all academic certificates in possession with the arrested youth in the name of Raghav Rajan were fake
Earlier requested by the visiting police team, BB Mohanti arrived at the office of the Cuttack DCP and faced the interrogation. later speaking to waiting media men, Mohanti said he had been all along upholding law and was here to cooperate with Kerala Police.
He however refused to say anything about what transpired between him and the police team during the interrogation saying he had been strictly instructed by the court not to speak about the case in public.
“I cannot say anything to you (on the case) as investigations are on. Because, last time when I spoke to you, I had to face a lot of questions from the court,” he said, asking reporters politely with folding hands to not to ask him anything further on the matter.
Earlier, the Kerala police team arrived here after procuring some documents from a private university in Bhubaneswar where Bittihotra obtained his BTech degree in 2005 and met the State DGP Prakash Mishra in the police headquarters. The team reportedly appraised Mishra for the necessity to interrogate the former DGP with the help of Odisha police. After which they arrived at the DCP’s office where Mohanti turned up just after five minutes riding a two-wheeler to face the questioning.
Bitihotra was convicted and sentenced to undergo seven years rigorous imprisonment for raping a German friend in Alwar in March 2006 by fast track court in Rajasthan. But taking a 15-day parole in November 2006, Bittihotra remained underground for all these years only to reappear as one Raghav Rajan, a probationary officer of State Bank of Travancore posted at Kunnur last week.