Suicide of fodder scam accused rocks Parliament

The reported suicide of one of the accused in the fodder scam rocked both houses of Parliament on Monday with the members questioning the credibility of the CBI and demanding an overall probe into the working of the agency.

Raising the issue during zero hour in the Rajya Sabha, Ram Deo Bhandari (Janata Dal) said the reported suicide of Harish Khandelwal was a serious matter. He quoted newspaper reports saying Khandelwal was physically and mentally tortured by the CBI during the investigation.

Congress' S S Ahluwali demanded that the National Human Rights Commission look into the matter.

Raising the issue in the Lok Sabha, M A H Fatmi (JD) wanted a commission to probe the working of the CBI in view of the letter left by the fodder scam accused.

Amid protests, Fatmi alleged that the CBI appeared to have a nexus with the Bharatiya Janata party-Samata Party combine since A B Vajpayee appeared to get CBI reports even before the government did.

Meanwhile, the United Front on Saturday chose to maintain discreet silence over the CBI's move to prosecute Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav in the Rs 9.5 billion fodder scam treating it as a legal issue and an internal matter of the constituent Janata Dal.

Neither the CBI's decision to seek Bihar Governor A R Kidwai's sanction to prosecute Laloo Yadav nor the absence of the Dal president figured in the 90-minute meeting of the front's steering committee on Saturday night.

Briefing media persons at the end of the meeting, front spokesperson S Jaipal Reddy said, ''No reference whatsoever was made to the fodder scam or the absence of Yadav at the meeting.'' This indicates that the government would steer clear of the sensitive issue, front sources said.

Front covernor and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said in Hyderabad on Friday that the law would take its own course in the fodder scam investigations.

Naidu's statement, coming as it did just before the committee meeting, virtually ruled out any role for the front in the matter.

Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mohanata and Tamil Maanila Congress president G K Moopanar had also maintained that the issue was an internal matter of the Janata Dal and that the front had no role in the matter.

The sources said Left party leaders Harkishen Singh Surjeet and A B Bardhan took the government to task for the conflicting statements made by Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Petroleum Minister T R Balu on the sensitive oil price issue.

They said any decision to hike the prices of petroleum products on the ground that the oil pool deficit had touched the Rs 155 billion mark should be kept in abeyance till the next meeting of the steering committee scheduled on May 25.

The committee could not reach any conclusion on the issue since both the ministers were not present at the meeting.

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