After the CBI filed chargesheets against Madhavrao Scindia, V.C. Shukla and Balram Jakhar, the question on everyone's mind is: How many more ministers and politicians are in the firing line? While many more names figure in the who's next list, the CBI's next move remains a mystery. At least two Congress leaders—Kamal Nath and Jaffer Sharief—are on the scrutiny list and links between them and the Jains have been established.
Investigators have now decoded more names from the diaries. These include Union Minister of State Arvind Netam, former minister Krishna Kumar, Maharashtra Animal Husbandry Minister B D Dakhne and Samata Party leader Chandrajit Yadav. Netam and Yadav reportedly told the CBI that they received money from the Jains for "political purposes". Krishna Kumar, while admitting that he knew the Jains, has denied receiving any money from them. The politicians identified are, among others, S.C. Shukla, (V.C. Shukla's brother) two former Madhya Pradesh chief ministers—Sunderlal Patwa and Kailash Joshi of the BJP. The MPs the CBI has closed in on include Bhawani Lal Verma, Swami Sureshanand, G. Venkatraman, Surendra Pal Singh and D. Rajan. All of them have denied having accepted money from the Jains.
Even those who acknowledge that they received funds from the Jains, like Rajesh Pilot, Devi Lal and Sharad Yadav, maintain they took it for 'political' purposes. However, Arif Mohammed Khan, Chand Ram, Bhilai MLA Prem Prakash Pandey, A.R. Antulay, R.K. Dhawan and Kamal Nath deny the charges vehemently even while admitting that they knew the Jains.
Investigating officials say the emphasis is on thorough investigation. This is reflected in the fresh lot of chargesheets against Jakhar, V.C. Shukla and Scindia, which are very specific and incriminating. In V.C. Shukla's case, the chargesheet notes that "S.K. Jain and B.R. Jain were regularly visiting his residence and the accused (Shukla) was also visiting their farmhouse and making telephone calls". The investigating officials have also established that "S.R. Chaudhary, executive director (finance) of the Bhilai Engineering Corporation (BECO), Delhi, and T.T. Bhatia, S.K. Jain's employee, were working for the Ravi Shankar Shukla Hospital and (V.C.) Shukla was the moving spirit behind the running of the hospital. The computer of the Delhi BECO office of the Jains is used for correspondence and other working of the Ravi Shankar Shukla Hospital."
The chargesheet goes on to note that "Ms Impex Pvt Ltd, an S.K. Jain company, gave a donation of Rs 10 lakh to the Ravi Shankar Shukla Hospital in 1994. B.R. Jain stood guarantor with Ms Lloyds Finance Ltd of Bombay for the lease finance of machinery worth Rs 90 lakh for the Mahima Hospital in Raipur, one of whose directors is V.C. Shukla's daughter." The CBI says the income-tax returns do not show the inflow of these amounts. When the Bureau sleuths tracked down S.K. Jain's fertiliser factory in Bilaspur, they stumbled upon a wealth of information about Jakhar. Among the evidence listed before the Special Court of Justice Gupta are photographs of a smiling Jain and Jakhar holding hands.
But the clincher came when CBI officials came across some travel documents of Rajeshwari Jakhar, wife of Balram Jakhar. She had travelled from Delhi to London, Paris, Rome, Zurich, Geneva, Dubai and back to Delhi on tickets booked by Indica Travel in BECO's credit account. The travel agency's seized account books, according to the chargesheet, revealed that BECO footed the entire travel bill.
"The ticket of Mrs Rajeshwari Jakhar, who was travelling on a diplomatic passport, indicates a very close association between Jakhar and the accused. It may be pointed out that the entry in the diary showing a payment of $5000 by the accused to Jakhar is very much related to the foreign travel of Rajeshwari Jakhar," says the chargesheet. Records have proved that S.K. Jain bought a Mercedes in the name of one Jarnail Singh, who registered his address with the RTO as 20, Akbar Road, which is the offi-cial residence of Jakhar.
In the case of Madhavrao Scindia, the CBI notes that S.K. Jain's entry into the former minister's house was unrestricted and there were no security checks. More importantly, Scindia has been charged with having personally approved the award of four major contracts for the "supply of cast iron steel casnub bogies" to BECO Steel Castings Pvt Ltd, a unit of BECO, running into several crores. Later, the chargesheet says, BECO Steel was merged with BECO and granted official recognition by the Ministry of Railways on October 16, 1994.
Confusion prevails on whether the Rs 65 crore paid by the Jains to politicans and bureaucrats should be counted as bribes or gifts. Well-placed sources in the Finance Ministry say the conversion of S.K. Jain's Rs 65 crore into 'gifts' would mean that the CBI attempt to prove they were 'bribes' would boomerang. A gift tax liability to the Jains of Rs 75 crore has already been made out by the Income-Tax department. Between June and November 1995, the hawala agent was sent five show-cause notices by the IT department on his tax liabilities.
All the documentary evidence on those chargesheeted so far have been placed before the Special Court on January 27. While the CBI claims that it is actively pursuing all aspects of the case, there is nothing to indicate yet that it is investigating the link between the Jains and Prime Minister Narasimha Rao with the same persistence and vigour it is showing in the other cases.
