Naveen Patnaik has slammed officials and party leaders for having messed up the agitation against petrol price rise. The crude oil prices have been falling rapidly, but Indians pay nearly Rs 70 for a litre of petrol whereas Bhutanese pay only 55 and Pakistanis as low as 57. Naveen had strictly instructed all to stage a truly people-friendly job so that people get sensitised to the grave issue without facing any physical difficulty or witnessing injury to life and loss of property. But violence and loss of property did occur and the media carried spiced stories. So, the CM has shown no mercy and quite a few hoodlums and goons in the fold have been arrested. But in Haryana, despite the Ramrahim Dera turmoil and open condemnation of the Government by law courts, not much damage has happened to the corrupt regime. Similarly, in Karnataka, court-slammed corrupt guys of the BJP still continue as bosses.
The CBI does appear like a caged parrot even today as it eports to the DoPT Secretary routinely as a mere puppet at the hands of the Minister.
In the recent past, the CBI has severally urged the Supreme Court to free the agency from being a “caged parrot”. The Centre has religiously rejected the CBI demand for greater autonomy and giving the Director a Secretary-level status. The agency has been merely asking for administrative and financial powers of the Secretary, Government of India, and not seeking any enhancement of legal powers. Successive Central Governments have remained keen on the CBI remaining slave, parapsychology only to settle scores with enemies and intimidate opposition parties. The CBI Director has, thus, never been empowered to enforce and ensure a more professional, efficient, expeditious and impartial conduct of investigations in sync with its motto ‘Industry, Impartiality, Integrity’.
Not long ago, the Aam Aadmi Party had lashed out at PM Modi and the BJP biggies over the arrest of Delhi Principal Secretary Rajendra Kumar. Kejriwal had openly slammed the saffron party's insane revenge tactics due to political bankruptcy. Sheila Dikshit, involved in some tanker scam, has never been summoned only because she had clearly threatened a hit-back saying if she was touched, several BJP leaders would be dragged into the picture by hook or by crook as ample evidence against them was lying unused in her bag.
It’s no more classified information that the BJP is mortally afraid of a shameful 2019 defeat in Odisha unless Naveen team members are defamed publicly. The midnight arrest of MlA Pravat Biswal is a case in point which indicates terrible frustration across the BJP turf. Since Naveen is just too potent by all standards and parameters of popularity, BJP strategists are playing foolish games. They seem to have used the caged parrot to stage a sensational drama to confuse people. Pravat’s wife had made some land deal with a ponzi company as a bona fide land vendor against an advance sum of money. The ponzi company failed to keep the commitment, sought money back and had the sale agreement nullified. The lady landowner returned the amount with some minor outstanding, believably, which is not a crime in any way. The CBI kept digging deeper and wider for three long years and gave up after finding nothing criminal. The sleuths reappeared suddenly to arrest the MlA in midnight. Even if Pravat is not a saint, it has nothing to do with the BJD, which never sponsored him to any private business venture. Even if there is some semblance of truth in his complicity, that cannot be used to tarnish the image of Naveen. But then, that’s what the BJP seems to be doing. The ‘Naveen fear’ eats them up so much! The Modi-Shah duo must resort to more ethical methods of winning hearts of the masses.
Interestingly, Amit Shah, who keeps threatening all non-BJP regimes with demolition and jail-cramming, has been a tainted guy himself on very grave charges of crime. In 2010, he was accused of orchestrating extrajudicial killings of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, his wife Kauser Bi and his criminal associate Tulsiram Prajapati. According to the CBI, Sohrabuddin had been harassing some Rajasthan marble traders by demanding hefty protection money. Two marble traders allegedly bribed Shah hugely to eliminate Sohrabuddin. Shah ‘roped’ in DIG Vanzara and SP Rajkumar Pandian, hatched a plan and killed Sohrabuddin. Previously in 2004, DCP Abhay Chudasama had pressured Sohrabuddin and Tulsiram to shoot at two builder brothers Raman and Dashrath Patel only to trigger a fresh criminal case against the two gunmen. Police picked Sohrabuddin, Kausar Bi and Tulsiram and put them in a farmhouse near Ahmedabad. Sohrabuddin was killed in a staged attack. Vanzara claimed he was a lashkar-e-Taiba operative. Kausar was also killed and cremated instantly for having been a witness. Tulsiram was initially let off as he was an informer to Vanzara. He was eliminated only after Sohrabuddin's death was exposed as an extrajudicial killing, by a journalist. The CBI claimed that Shah had transferred Vanzara to various places to facilitate these killings. Vanzara and several other officers were arrested. As proof of Shah's involvement in the crimes, the CBI presented phone call records, which showed Shah had been in touch with the accused police officers when the victims were in custody. It also presented videotapes of Patel brothers' conversations with two of Shah's associates at the Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank (ADCB). The tape shows ADCB Director Yashpal Chudasama and its Chairman Ajay Patel asking the brothers not to involve Shah's name in the case. Yashpal is the brother of the accused police officer Chudasama. According to the CBI, Chudasama used to run an extortion racket with Sohrabuddin as his henchman. The Patel brothers had also said Shah had used police to falsely implicate them into various cases only to extort money. Vanzara made them talk to Shah over phone, and Shah forced them into giving a statement against Sohrabuddin and Tulsiram. But Shah had dismissed all the accusations. He stated that he kept in touch with the police officers in the normal course of his duties as Home Minister. He accused the Congress of misusing the CBI and claimed that the encounter cases in Gujarat only were being scrutinised when the rest of the country had witnessed around 1,500 encounters during the same period. In 2010, Police Commissioner Geeta Johri, investigating the case, claimed that the CBI pressurised her to falsely implicate Shah in the Sohrabuddin case. Thus, Vanzara, also accused in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case, was nabbed, but Shah managed a clean chit in the case.
Shah and Modi have been accused of sidelining the police officers who testified against the Gujarat Government in the fake encounter cases. Additional DGP RB Sreekumar, who gave evidence to the Nanavati-Shah Commission, was allegedly denied promotion. Rahul Sharma, who handed over phone records of police officers and politicians to the commission, was charged with violating the Official Secrets Act. Additional DGP Kuldeep Sharma alleged that he had been moved from the police department to the Gujarat State Sheep and Wool Development Corporation after he accused Shah of taking bribe of Rs 2.5 crore to bail out a conman who fraudulently withdrew Rs 1,600 crore from the the Madhavpura Mercantile Cooperative Bank. Sharma was later made advisor to the Union Home Ministry by the Congress Government. His brother Pradeep Sharma was imprisoned in Gujarat from 2010 to 2011 on corruption charges. In 2013, Shah was accused of having ordered illegal surveillance on a woman in 2009. The investigative websites Cobrapost and Gulail released a set of taped audio conversations between Shah and police officer Gl Singhal. The tapes had been submitted to the CBI in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case, and were leaked to these portals. The ‘call detail’ revealed how the State machinery was used to keep watch over the woman and the suspended IAS officer Pradeep Sharma. BJP political opponents demanded a probe in this "Snoopgate" case. However, in May 2014, the woman approached the Supreme Court and stated that the surveillance on her was based on a "personal request", and she was thankful to the Gujarat Government for ensuring her safety. She requested the court to block any investigation, stating that it would violate her privacy. Shah denied all the accusations against him, calling them political propaganda by his opponents.
Shah was arrested on July 25, 2010 in connection with the Sohrabuddin case. He was charged with murder, extortion and kidnapping, among other charges. Most ruling leaders of Gujarat distanced themselves from him. When Shah applied for bail, the CBI raised concerns that he would use his political power to prevent justice from taking its course. The Gujarat High Court granted him bail three months after arrest. However, when the courts closed next day, Justice Aftab Alam took a petition at his residence to bar Shah from entering Gujarat. Shah was, thus, forcibly exiled from the State from 2010 to 2012. He moved to a room in the Gujarat Bhawan, Delhi. later, the Supreme Court cancelled his bail on a CBI plea. In September 2012, the Supreme Court granted him bail and allowed him to return to Gujarat. He won the 2012 Assembly election from Naranpura.
The Modi-Shah duo is apparently turning a terror team to extract votes by confounding the masses. Pravat Biswal may not be a saint, but Shah is not one for sure!
(The writer is a core member of Transparency International, Odisha)