காங்கிரஸ் தலைவர் தேர்தலில் நிற்க கொடுத்த இந்திய பிரஜாஉரிமை சான்றிதழ்கள் போலி - சிபிஐ தெரிவிப்பு

அஸ்ஸாம் காங்கிரஸ் தலைவர் சுப்பா கொடுத்த பிறப்பு சான்றிதழ்கள், இதர சான்றிதழ்கள் அனைத்தும் போலி. இவர் இந்தியரே அல்ல என்று கோர்ட்டில் சிபிஐ தெரிவித்துள்ளது.

CBI fake stamp on Subba
- Apex court told lottery baron had forged birth certificate
SAMANWAYA RAUTRAY

New Delhi, April 28: The CBI informed the Supreme Court today that controversial Assam MP Mani Kumar Subba’s birth certificate and several other documents — submitted to the Election Commission to prove his Indian nationality to enable him to contest general elections — appeared to be fake.

Additional solicitor general Gopal Subramanium told the court — which had asked the CBI on January 20, 2005 to look into allegations that lottery king Subba was not an Indian national — that several documents, including Subba’s birth certificate, were “not genuine” and appeared to have been forged.

The CBI observations have come as a blow to the ruling Congress in Assam with the party having started preparations for the Lok Sabha elections.

A lottery baron, Subba is known to be the key fund-raiser for the party.

A senior Cogress leader, who did not wish to be named, said the development had come as a huge embarrassment for the party and particularly those who had all along been backing Subba. “The current state leadership was not at all happy over the role that Subba had been playing.”

General secretary and party spokesman Haren Das said he had only heard about the matter and was in no position to make any comments.

Ripun Bora, a minister and government spokesman, echoed him saying it was a “sensitive matter” and still sub judice. He said it was for the party high command to comment.

“Personally speaking,” though, he said given that the CBI was the premier investigating agency and the Supreme Court the apex judicial body, “I feel that Subba should resign on moral grounds till his name is cleared of the controversy. I am one of the persons who have been saying that his citizenship is doubtful.”

The CBI had filed its report in a sealed cover but Subramanium, appearing for the CBI, made it clear that all the contents were against Subba. All candidates have to reveal their antecedents in their nomination forms for the polls.

The petitioner, Birendra Nath Singh, had alleged that Subba, who represents Tezpur parliamentary constituency of Assam, was actually a Nepali citizen, Mani Raj Limboo, who fled that country after committing a crime and illegally settled in India.

A bench, headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, then directed the CBI to hand over a copy of the report to Subba, through his counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, so that he could reply to the charges.

Subba has been given six weeks to prepare his defence.

This is not the first time that Subba’s nationality has been called into question. The CBI had probed his antecedents way back in 1997 after the then chief minister raised doubts on his citizenship with the Prime Minister. But the matter died down till Singh filed his PIL in the Supreme Court in 2005, reopening the issue.

The Nepal government had earlier said Mani Raj Limboo alias Mani Kumar Subba was a resident of village Somangkhu, ward 8, Sangsabu, Tamarkhola area gram panchayat, district Taplejung, Eastern Nepal.

After the matter came up again with the filing of a PIL in the Supreme Court, the CBI, on the basis of its earlier investigation, wrote to the home ministry that Subba’s name was not found on the electoral rolls of Assam for 1979 but it existed in 1985, 1993 and 1997.

However, no document regarding his citizenship could be collected and the earliest record of purchase of land in Lakhimpur district was 1978-79. One of his wives claimed to have visited his native place in Nepal saying he was known as Mani Raj Limboo but she could not provide any documentary evidence, the CBI said.

The agency said a vigilance inquiry in Sikkim in 1985 had revealed that he was a Nepali citizen but as copies of the report were not available, “no final view”’ could be taken.