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Congress team meet Advani, seeks MDMA probe against Karunanidhi

A high-level Congress delegation has met Home Minister L K Advani and demanded that the proposed independent agency should be directed to investigate all matters relating to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi as advocated by the Jain Commission on Rajiv Gandhi's assassination, and proceed against him in a court of law if there is evidence.

The delegation said the Congress was not satisfied with the government's decision to request the Tamil Nadu government to examine the reasons for, and comment on, the failure of intelligence and lack of vigil at the coast. The same state government, led by the same political party, which was responsible for the failure of intelligence and lack of vigil on the coast, is now being requested to examine its own failures and its own lack of vigil, the delegation said in a seven-page memorandum given to Advani.

The party welcomed the government's decision to refer to the proposed independent investigation agency the failure of the Special Investigation Team to interrogate Karunanidhi, but said it would not agree with the role of the proposed agency being limited to decide how to proceed further in the matter .

The party demanded a full investigation by the proposed independent investigative agency into all these matters to establish whether there were grounds to prosecute those responsible in a criminal court.

According to home ministry sources, Advani said the Multi Disciplinary Monitoring Agency would be set up this month in consultation with the Congress. He also said the government wanted the full facts in the case be investigated.

The delegation demanded an independent investigation into the conspiracy alleged by Mahant Sewa Dass Singh and said it should also cover the surveillance at 10, Janpath by the Haryana police, as it might have a bearing on the conspiracy.

The delegation said the contradictions between the depositions of former Cabinet secretary Zafar Saifullah and the RAW regarding intercepted messages should be investigated to establish whether these documents have been deliberately withheld from the commission.

The party also insisted that the independent investigation agency must investigate all matters relating to the naval intercepts from 1988 onwards to establish the reasons for which appropriate action was not taken. The Congress said it would not accept the government's view that no further action was required as the Intelligence Bureau used these intercepts as one more input to corroborate the LTTE's known hostility to Rajiv Gandhi.

The party said the links between the LTTE and the BCCI must be further investigated along with the activities of certain individuals referred to by the commission in respect of accounts with the BCCI, Monte Carlo. The payment made to a Sri Lankan national, Anura Fernando also should be investigated.

UNI

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