The Rediff Special / N K Singh

'Chandra Swami had shown the papers to some persons and
told them that when the facts come out it would
greatly damage V P Singh'

N K Singh is the CBI officer who arrested Indira Gandhi on October 3, 1977. The first time a former Indian prime minister has gone to prison. Forced to return to his home cadre in Orissa after she returned to power, this courageous and diligent Indian Police Service officer was brought back to the CBI by V P Singh's government.

One of the first cases he was assigned was the St Kitts forgeries. Unfortunately, his meticulous investigation into the case earned the wrath of the next prime minister, Chandra Shekhar, who transferred him out of the agency.

In the first of six extracts from his fascinating biography, The Plain Truth, N K Singh outlines the genesis of the St Kitts investigation which may now send yet another former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao to prison.

I first heard about the allegation of the existence of a bank account in the Caribbean island of St Kitts, in the name of Ajeya Singh, son of V P Singh, when I was in Orissa.

Some of the news agencies of the country had picked up a news item published in a Kuwait-based newspaper The Arab Times, which reported than an account No. 29479 with the First Trust Corporation Limited, St Kitts, had been opened in the name of Ajeya Singh, in which V P Singh was shown as the beneficiary and that during the period from September 16, 1986 to March 26, 1987, six deposits ranging between US $2 million and $ 5 million totalling $ 21 million were allegedly made and the entire sum was subsequently withdrawn making the balance nil on February 13, 1988.

It was also alleged that an interest of over $330,000 had accrued to the Singhs on these deposits. Later on, it was learnt that when none in the US agreed to buy this story from them, Chandra Swami had reportedly used his Arab contacts to get it published in a Kuwaiti newspaper.

Even before the story appeared in the newspapers, Chandra Swami had been making his rounds in Delhi with photo copies of the alleged bank documents. He had shown the papers to some persons and told them that when the facts come out it would greatly damage V P Singh.

Arif Mohammad Khan, who had left the Rajiv Cabinet on account of differences on the Shah Bano case and later joined the V P Singh government as minister of civil aviation, was one of those to whom Chandra Swami had shown the documents. Following a raid by the CBI on his house in August 1995 in connection with the hawala case, Arif Khan himself came out with the statement that he was a witness in the St Kitts case. In fact, he had been examined by me at the time when he was a minister.

Much earlier, the economic offenses wing of the CBI had registered a case against Chandra Swami and his associate Kailashnath Aggrawal alias Mamaji. Prior to its registration, some newspapers and magazines had quoted Chandra Swami as saying that he was in possession of some information regarding the involvement of political high-ups in the Bofors case. After the registration of the case, he had forgotten all about this claim.

By now Chandra Swami was known for his connections with the sultan of Brunei, considered to be the richest man in the world, and Adnan Khashoggi, the internationally reputed arms dealer having close links with the ruling circles of Saudi Arabia and Iran. Tall, bulky and with a beard, Chandra Swami always wears silk robes with a big red dot on his forehead. Mamaji is his right hand man who manages his affairs.

While in New York, Chandra Swami and Mamaji and others stay in the Olympic Towers at Manhattan belonging to Khashoggi. Known abroad amongst his disciples and followers as His Holiness Shri Chandra Swami Maharajji, Chandra Swami had been a frequent flyer on Khashoggi's planes. In parties and get-togethers, he is usually the subject of conversation and also is known as a tantric expert, who could tell the future.

He had known the sultan of Brunei since the 1970s. The sultan is reported to have helped Khashoggi when he faced some financial crisis. In 1986, when Khashoggi threw a party for the celebrated actress Elizabeth Taylor in Los Angeles, he had introduced her to Chandra Swami. The godman is also said to be close to actor George Hamilton reportedly introduced Pamela Bordes (she called herself Singh then) to Khashoggi.

When Chandra Swami would visit Canada with his associate and friends by a chartered flight from the USA, Ernie Miller would make all arrangements for his reception and stay including booking of a couple of floors in five-star hotels. India Abroad, published simultaneously from Toronto, New York and London, had carried a news item, according to which the two previous directors of the First Trust Corporation Limited, of which George McLean was the managing director, had been found laundering profits from 'drug smuggling' and there was evidence that the First Trust Corporation Limited used to launder drug money. George McLean was associated with the drug launderers who had been convicted in the Canadian courts. What a combination of noblemen indeed!

Excerpted from The Plain Truth, Memoirs Of A CBI Officer, by N K Singh, Konarak, 1996, Rs 395, with the publisher's permission. Readers may direct inquiries about the book to Mr K P R Nair, Konarak Publishers, A-149, Main Vikas Marg, Delhi 11 00 92.