Punjab BJP president Kamal Sharma on Wednesday lashed out at the CBI for giving a clean chit to former Union Railway Minister and Chandigarh MP Pawan Kumar Bansal in Rs 10 crore cash-for-job Railgate scam.
Sharma said that even as the evidence in the form of witness statements by the then chairman of the Railway Board Vinay Mittal has claimed that Bansal’s nephew used to frequently visit Railway Ministry, the clean chit by CBI is “shocking”. “Despite statements by several witnesses, including Mittal, it is shocking to learn the way CBI — the prime agency of this country — has made Bansal their prosecution witness. How much more evidence do we requireIJ Can’t CBI show enough courage to prosecute Bansal,” Sharma lashed out.
Sharma added, “Bansal was first involved in Chandigarh’s infamous booth scam. Then he got involved in unlawfully getting land for his Delhi Public School by changing norms for setting up an education institution.” Sharma also criticised the way ludhiana Congress MP and Union Information Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari had made “horrendous remarks” against media which has been requesting for a fresh probe in the Railgate.
“It pains the countrymen and us as an Opposition party to know that UPA Government Ministers want to muzzle the Press and doesn’t allow them to question the way agencies are functioning. Do they further require the court to remind them that CBI is a caged parrotIJ” asked Sharma. He added that it was high time that CBI was made independent from the ambit of the Government, which includes a barrage of tainted ex-UPA Ministers including Pawan Kumar Bansal, Ashwani Kumar, A Raja, Kanimozhi among others.