 Tuesday, Dec 23, 2003 |
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By Nirnimesh Kumar
 The former Prime Minister, P.V. Narasimha Rao, coming out of the special court in New Delhi on Monday. — PTI
Pronouncing his verdict in a courtroom set up at the high-security Vigyan Bhavan annexe, the special judge, Dinesh Dayal, said, "I find that Lakhubhai Pathak's evidence is not reliable and it has not been corroborated. His evidence has been constantly changing and there have been contradictions on vital aspects of the case. The inordinate delay in filing the case has not been explained by the prosecution." Reacting to the judgment, Mr. Rao said, "I am very happy. I have been waiting for this moment for the last eight years. I have faith in the judiciary. I feel as if I have been born again." The CBI case was that Chandraswami and Mamaji had cheated Pathak of $1 lakh and Mr. Rao had helped them in the criminal conspiracy. Pathak had also alleged that he had spent $30,000 on entertaining Chandraswami and Mamaji between their first meeting with him in London in 1983 and January 4, 1984 when the payment was made in New York. `Justice done' Elated by the verdict, Mr. Rao's counsel Kapil Sibal said, "Justice has been done to the former Prime Minister, who has been a victim of conspiracy in a number of cases like the St. Kitts forgery case, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha case and the Lakhubhai Pathak case. In all cases he has come out victorious." The alleged offence had occurred in 1983 while Pathak filed a complaint with the CBI four years later on September 25, 1987, and the investigating agency converted it into a regular case on February 5, 1988. Mr. Rao, Chandraswami and Mamaji along with their lawyers were present in the court when Mr. Dayal pronounced the verdict. Mr. Rao entered the courtroom around 1-45 p.m. Minutes later, Chandraswami and Mamaji came. Mr. Rao, Chandraswami and Mamaji faced trial in the case for allegedly cheating Pathak, a London-based Non-Resident Indian, nick-named pickle king, of $1 lakh in December 1983 promising him to get a paper pulp supply contract in India. The Central Bureau of Investigation had filed a chargesheet in the case in April 1996 alleging that Pathak had given to W.E. Miller, a Canadian national and one of the prosecution witnesses in the case, two cheques amounting to $1 lakh to be handed over to Chandraswami in 1983 after Pathak met Mr. Rao in New York regarding the contract. Mr. Rao was then the Minister of External Affairs. The name of Mr. Rao was added to the chargesheet later when Pathak, who died in May 1997, had named him as an accused in the case during recording of his testimony in the court of the then Special Judge for CBI cases, Prem Kumar, in July 1996. With the court giving a clean chit in this case, Mr. Rao has been cleared in all the three cases.
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