THE interrogation of state Chief Secretary Dinesh Afzalpurkar by the CBI, coming as it does after a series of extortion and murder charges hounding the Shiv Sena-BJP combine, has not raised very many eyebrows. Indeed, Afzalpurkar getting in and out of his official car outside the local CBI headquarters, Tanna House, and calling it a 'routine' matter, made a good news picture but scarcely attracted the attention his appointment received a few months ago.
At the time, the election-eve move of appointing a chief secretary under the cloud of a CBI inquiry, was highly criticised. However, Afzalpurkar's cordial ties with Sena chief Bal Thackeray outweighed the opposition, and the consequences of the investigation and possible arrest that he faced. The issue soon got shelved though the CBI, about a fortnight after his appointment on February 24, filed an FIR charging Afzal-purkar with leasing prime property at throwaway prices to Delhi socialite and Haryana Chief Minister Bansi Lal's daughter-in-law, lawyer Kiran Chaudh-ary. Now, the agency has moved again, summoning Afzalpurkar for interrogation. Just a fortnight before the chief secretary's term ends on August 31.
While the CBI team headed by DIG V.B. Raghuvanshi says it is part of the ongoing process of investigation in the case where a number of statements have been recorded since April, Afzalpurkar is unimpressed:"This undue haste in calling me, after they have slept over the case for three months, is against the principles of justice. They are just trying to blow up the whole thing." The chief secretary went to the CBI offices twice for interrogation—on August 9 and 14. The first session lasted two-and-a-half hours. The chief secretary's irritation at the sudden re-emergence of the case could well stem from his uncertainty about his future. Chief Minister Manohar Joshi, who had at the time of Afzalpurkar's appointment admitted that the charges against him were of a "serious nature", has been noncommittal about an extension.
Sources in the CBI suggest that the summoning of Afzalpurkar, after what seemed to be a long period of silence, has something to do with the new head of the agency, Joginder Singh, who wants the matter expedited. The resurrection of the CBI probe brought Kiran Chaudhary to Bombay for a few days last week. Chaudhary, a youth
Congress leader, was allotted prime office space at Ballard Estate in south Bombay at Rs 57.20 per sq m, which the FIR describes as a "mere pittance vis-a-vis market rates".
Charging Afzalpurkar, the Bombay Port Trust chairman from 1993-96, and his deputy B.P. Pandey of "dishonestly flouting government instructions and Board guidelines" to benefit Chaudhary, the FIR alleged that rent was increased to Rs 542.57 per sq m when Afzalpurkar found that the Ministry of Surface Transport was conducting enquiries against him. "Such manoeuvres," according to the FIR, "have only reinforced the incriminating factors against Afzalpurkar." The chief secretary's defence, which he says has been analysed and explained to the CBI, is that when he came to know that the municipal rates/taxes had been increased, the rent was reworked accordingly.
The property was allotted in July 1993, on a 30-year lease to M/s Kiran Chaudhary and Company for their use as legal retainers to the Port Trust. Chaudhary was appointed to look after legal matters at a time when Jagdish Tytler, to whom she is reportedly close, was Union minister for surface transport. The FIR alleges that Chaudhary "fraudulently" sublet the premises to a company called Tinna Shipping and Warehousing Ltd which opened a full-fledged office there. Afzalpurkar and Pandey, "though fully aware of this unauthorised commercial usage, criminally omitted taking appropriate action" against Chaudhary, says the FIR. Chaudhary, who has faced several hours of questioning by the CBI, says the accusations against her are politically motivated. However, given the possibility of a chargesheet—what with the CBI's ability to move when it wants to—the glamour girl of Delhi politics could be in trouble.
The charge of causing the Port Trust losses worth several crores is not the only one against Afzalpurkar. With enough motivation, the CBI could dig up an old case—the licensing of a berth to American President Lines (APL)—also during his tenure as Port
Trust chairman. Afzalpurkar had raised quite a few eyebrows when he issued newspaper ads before taking over as chief secretary, defending the lease to Chaudhary, and the berth to APL. The last, he said, was done following "all canons of administrative and financial propriety, total transparency and after following established procedures". Currently, the move he calls "an experiment in accordance with the policy guidelines of the Ministry of Surface Transport", is not under scrutiny. Instead, it is the real estate tie with the Chaudhary that he has to worry about.
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