Académique Documents
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CBI..VSCHANDRASWAMY ETC.
JUDGMENT.
2. It is alleged that the said bank was closed in the year 1988
and Mr. McLean left St. Kitts. without even paying his telephone
bills and rent etc.
10.. It is, further, alleged that the signatures of Shri Ajeya Singh
and Shri V. P. Singh on these documents were not genuine and
had been forged by using their signatures on their passport
applications as a model.
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the same day i.e. 6.10..89. he got a message through Shri A.P.
Nanday by fax. Shri A. P. Nanday told him that Mr. Larry J. Kolb
would call him regarding the case and that he should try to
coordinate with him. He also told this witness that Mr. Larry J.
Kolb was a friend of the then Prime Minister Shri Rajiv Gandhi.
Learned Special Public Prosecutor has pointed out that Shri K.N.
Aggarwal was Secretary of Shri Chandraswamy and from the
statement of Shri Shiv Kumar, it is apparent that they were playing
active role. Learned .Special Public Prosecutor pointed out that
the two other important witnesses namely Shri A. P. Nanday and
Shri HC Nahata have died, while Shri Raj Babbar, PW34 has not
supported the prosecution case.
23. PW.32 Shri K.L. Verma who was the Director in the
Directorate of Enforcement had received this telegram in office
on 25.8.89. It was marked to him from the Office of Finance
Secretary, Government of India. Shri Gopi Arora (PW10) had
marked this telegram to him. The matter was discussed by Shri K.
L. Verma with Shri Gopi Arora. PW10 directed PW32 to keep a
watch, but no action was proposed at the initial stage. Around
12/13.9.89 there was a news item in the local press indicating that
Shri Ajeya Singh had arrived in India. Thereafter P.W.32 K.L.
Verma received telephonic call from Shri R. K. Dhawan, the then
Additional Secretary in Prime Ministers Office for enquiring
whether the Directorate had started any investigation into the
matter relating to alleged bank account of Shri Ajeya Singh. P.W.
32 Shri K.L. Verma then informed Shri R. K. Dhawan that so far
no enquiry had been initiated. Shri Edwardo Faleiro the then
Minister of State ( Finance) also made enquiry from P.W.32
about the investigation in the matter. In September 1989 Shri
Gopi Arora had called P.W.32 Shri K.L. Verma to his office and
after discussions directive U/s. 33(2) FERA was issued to Shri
Ajeya Singh. Shri. Arun Kumar Sharma, PW 2, Chief
Enforcement Officer served the directive on Shri Ajay Singh. The
reply received from Shri Ajeya Singh was found to be incomplete
and he was required to furnish more and complete details. This
matter was discussed on various occasions by P.W.32 K.L. Verma
with Shri Gopi Arora PW10 and Shri Edwardo Faleiro.
24. P.W.32 Shri K.L. Verma has stated that Shri Edwardo
Faleiro desired that while the matter was being perused with Shri
Ajeya Singh , one or two officers of the Director of Enforcement
be sent to St. Kitts for knowing the truth regarding the alleged
bank account of Shri Ajeya Singh . PW32 Shri K.L. Verma had
sounded Shri S. P. Pundir Ranjan and Shri L.K. Singhvi, Special
Directors and they were ready to go to St. Kitts They were told to
get their official passports and visas ready. He forwarded their
applications to Ministry of External Affairs for the said purpose
and thereafter he decided to send Mr. A. P. Nanday (deceased) to
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28. PW23 Shri Gyan Singh Mundari had stated that he was
working as assistant in PV-II Section of Ministry of External
Affairs. He was in-charge of safe custody of passports. A person
can possess only one passport at a time. Holder of a private
passport is required to surrender private passport in PV-II Section,
if he applies for diplomatic passport or official passport. Such
surrendered passports are kept in safe custody. The surrender of
such passport is entered in safe custody register in which a serial
number of surrendered passport is given. Such number is reflected
on the surrendered passport. The register is maintained calendar
year-wise, separately for private passport, official passport and
diplomatic passport. The private passport No. N.090997 dated
15.6.78 is in the name of Shri Vishwanath Partap Singh and the
same is Ex.P.W.19/A. This was kept in safe custody and serial
no.158 of 1983 was given in the register. The safe custody
register having this entry vide Ex.P.w.23/D is also proved by this
witness. This witness has also stated that this file shows that
passport of Shri V.P. Singh was requisitioned by Shri Diwakar
Prasasd , DIG of CBI on 21.11.88 and returned to PV II Section on
22.11.88. The requisition is contained in Ex.P.w.24/A and the
return is contained in ex.P.W.24/E. From the evidence of PW26
Shri Shashank, it also appears that the photo copy of the papers
relating to the passport of Shri Ajeya Singh were received by him
from the High Commission of India under the signatures of Shri R.
P. Joshi vide letter Ex.P.W.21/A . He left the documents in the
office of Shri P.L. Sinai (PW25) and he got them back under the
signatures of Shri I.P. Khosla, PW20 vide his note Ex.P.W.20/A.
Shri Nanday had been made from the passport which had been
kept in safe custody as it bears the number of the safe custody
register 158/83. In the absence of the evidence of Shri A.P.
Nanday there is no evidence as to how these copies of the
passports of Shri V.P. Singh and Shri Ajeya Singh came to Shri
A.P. Nanday.
33. From the evidence of Shri K.L. Verma PW32 we are know
that Shri A.P. Nanday was deputed to make enquiries into the
matter of the numbered account of Shri Ajeya Singh.
34. PW5 Shri Rahul Dev Burman, Assistant Manager, Air India
was looking after the booking of Government officials. He has
stated that air tickets were booked for Shri A.P. Nanday through
his office. The request was made by Shri K.L. Verma.
35. PW8 Shri R.K. Sharma was called by Shri K.L. Verma to
his office on 20.9.89 and was directed to pick up Shri A.P. Nanday
from his residence in the same evening and drop him at Airport,
because Mr. Nanday was supposed to leave for London and St.
Kitts. He had picked Mr. Nanday and dropped him at the airport
at around 11.00 PM.
1989. On 4.10.89 the Council General called him to his office and
introduced him to Shri. Nanday, who was Deputy Director on
deputation from New Delhi. On that day Shri. Rai himself
attested some documents submitted by Shri Nanday. As Shri. Rai
was leaving on tour on the same evening, he asked him to attest
the documents. .On 5.10.89 Shri Nanday came to the office with
some more documents for attestation. There were two statements
which Shri. Nanday had brought, one was of Mr. George D.
McLean. The statement is Ex.P.W.30/A, which runs into four
sheets and bears the signatures of Mr. George D. McLean. Mr.
Nanday told him that these are the signatures of Mr. George D
McLean and it had been signed before Shri. A. P. Nanday. Since
he had no reason to doubt, he attested the same. The other
statement was of Mr. Alen E. Tonks, which is Ex.P.W.30/D. It is
also signed by Shri Nanday as Ex.P.W.30/E and had been attested
by this witness. Besides the above two statements, Shri. Nanday
brought the copy of passport No. B-172230 of Shri Ajeya Singh.
Copy of the passport is Ex.P.W.16/I. It is in two sheets and bears
the signatures of Mr. George D. McLean on both sheets. It was
attested by him under his seal and signatures. Shri A. P. Nanday
also brought photo copy of passport No. N-090997, of Shri V. P.
Singh. Copy of the passport is Ex.P.W.30/H, which is in two
sheets. Both the sheets bear the signatures of Mr. George D.
McLean and also attested by this witness under the seal of his
office. He has also proved the register of the Council General
Office. The attestation number of the documents, attested by him,
is Ex.P.W.30/C.
40. The entire mischief of this case lay in the attestation of the
forged documents by the Indian Counsel. The unmindful act of
P.W.30 Deepak Sen Gupta and P.W.33 Shri R.K. Rai in attesting
the documents without following the proper procedures could
have had far reaching consequences and effected the entire
political scene. PW30 Deepak Sen Gupta attested two statements
of persons, who never appeared before him to make those
statements. Shri R.K. Rai attested copies of documents without
having seen the original documents. The power of attestation is
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42. It appears from the evidence of Shri V.P. Singh that Shri
Arif Mohd. Khan had told him about his talks with Shri
Chandraswamy, but Shri V. P. Singh did not pay much heed to the
same and refused to meet Shri Chandraswamy. The evidence thus
only shows that at that particular time Shri Chandraswamy did not
think highly of Shri V. P. Singh. The question which was raised
by the Prime Minister of St. Kitts to PW Suresh Chander Gupta,
PW12 does not show that the accused Shri Chandraswamy was in
any manner instrumental in arranging the fictitious document or
was a part of the conspiracy. The question posed by Prime
Minister of St. Kitts may or may not have been related to this
transaction. He may have heard of Chandraswamy in any context
and may have raised the question when he met Shri Suresh
Chander Gupta.
(DINESH DAYAL)
Dated: 25.10.2004 SPECIAL JUDGE: DELHI.