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CBI ordered to protect witness in JMM case

A special court today ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation to provide personal security to a witness in the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MPs bribery case after he complained that he was feeling threatened by the accused. Among the accused is former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao.

Manohar Parikh, editor of Jandharna published from Kota in Rajasthan, was to appear as a CBI witness today in the court of additional sessions judge Ajit Bharihoke, who is holding trial in the case against Rao and 19 others.

But in a communication he informed the court that he felt threatened and sought it direct the CBI to protect him.

''The CBI is directed to ensure the personal safety of the witness,'' Bharihoke said in his order.

Parikh had written to the prime minister's office stating that he was aware of the alleged conspiracy to bribe opposition MPs to vote against the July 28, 1993 no-confidence motion against the then Rao government.

The PMO had initially maintained that it had not received any such letter, but subsequently R K Ghosh, then director, administration, in the PMO, admitted that it had reached him.

P L N Murthy, section officer in the PMO, today appeared in court as the 62nd CBI witness and identified a letter written by Ghosh to then CBI Superintendent of Police A K Sinha. He, however, said he had no personal knowledge of the contents of the letter.

Another prosecution witness, Income-Tax Deputy Commissioner J H Mulky from Bangalore told the court that she had, on November 20, 1996, handed over to the CBI 11 documents, including an appraisal report of an income tax case against accused and Bangalore-based liquor baron M Thimme Gowda.

The judge has fixed February 25 and 26 for further hearing in the case.

The other accused in the case include former Union ministers Buta Singh, Ajit Singh, Satish Sharma and Ramlakhan Singh Yadav, and former chief ministers Bhajan Lal of Haryana and M Veerappa Moily of Karnataka.

Yesterday, a prosecution witness, K Narayanan, resident manager of Mohan Breweries, had asserted that the CBI officials had tortured him and forced him to make a statement as dictated by them.

Meanwhile, the court today allowed a plea of Rao, who is undergoing treatment in the United States after surgery, to extend his time limit to return to India till March 31, 1999 for returning to India.

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