The previous Congress Government in Haryana has once again hit the headlines for wrong reasons. An RTI application accessed by a private news channel has revealed that senior counsel and now Congress MP from Rajya Sabha KTS Tulsi was appointed as a Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) by the previous Bhupinder Singh Hooda Government in the Maruti case and Tulsi charged Rs11 lakh for a single appearance in the Gurgaon Additional District and Sessions Court.
As per the RTI reply, the Congress Government paid a whopping Rs5.5 crore to the lawyer to prosecute workers accused of violence at Maruti's plant in Manesar. The RTI reply also details other fees, including that of Tulsi's three assistants — Rs66,000 for each appearance - and "clerkage" of over Rs1 lakh for his expenses — a total of over Rs5 crore in just two years,
A senior Maruti official was killed and 100 injured in violence at the Manesar plant in July 2012 after which the police had arrested more than 150 workers following the incident. The then Haryana Industry Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala had then assured that his government would punish the perpetrators of the crime.
After forming Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the incident, the state government appointed criminal lawyer KTS Tulsi as the special prosecutor for the trial. Maruti Suzuki has demanded that the inquiry be expedited.
When the mediapersons ask ed KTS Tulsi about the matter, he refused to divulge any details. In December last year, Tulsi was dropped from the case. Meanwhile, the BJP, which is now in power in the state, has expressed shock over the same and said the government is looking into the matter.