The Congress here on Saturday released a CD in which an accused in the `54-crore bank scam, that came to surface in Chhattisgarh in 2007, has claimed to have paid “bribe” to five ministers in state BJP government, including chief minister Raman Singh.
State PWD minister Brij Mohan Agrawal, however, dismissed the charges, describing the CD as “manipulated” one.
He also claimed that the CBI has questioned the manner in which narco-analysis test was conducted on the accused by the doctor concerned.
The case relates to the sudden closure of a Chhattisgarh-based private bank, Indira Priyadarshini Mahila Sahayata Bank, in 2007, leading to loss of depositors’ money to the tune of `54.38 crore.
Later, the Reserve Bank of India cancelled the banking licence of the bank following the scam.
An FIR was filed in a local police station here against the bank management in 2007. Later, the narco-analysis test of one of the accused and the then manager of the bank, Umesh Sinha, was conducted at Forensic Science Laboratory Madiwala, Bengaluru, following a directive from the trial court here.
Releasing the CD of the purported narco-test of the accused, state programme coordinator of the Congress Bhupesh Baghel on Saturday claimed that slain Congress leader Dinesh Patel, who was killed in the Naxal attack on the Congress convoy at Jiram Ghati in Bastar district on May 25 along with his father and the then PCC president Nand Kumar Patel and many other Congress leaders, had indicated exposure of the matter in a few days through an SMS to a Congress leader just two days before the incident.
Umesh Sinha was seen in the CD telling the doctor during the narco test that he had given `1 crore each to chief minister Raman Singh, PWD minister Agrawal, urban development minister Rajesh Mrunat, and health minister Amar Agrawal and `2 crore to higher education minister Ram Vichar Netam.
Meanwhile, inspector general of police (IGP) G.P.Singh also questioned veracity of the CD saying, “The accused contradicted his own confessions several times during the Narco test”.
EOM/