08-14-2006, 12:46 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Caught on tape: Minister-Mafia conversation </b>
Pioneer News Service | New Delhi
Private TV channel claims chat was officially recorded ---- A TV news channel exposure claiming to show<b> Union Minister of State for Home Manikrao Hodlya Gavit talking to a hardened criminal in a jail in Bulandshahr</b>, UP, on Sunday has given fresh ammunition to the NDA-led opposition to attack the UPA Government in Parliament.
Zee News on Sunday replayed parts of the<b> incriminating tape recording a conversation between the Minister and the jailed outlaw on the latter's cell phone wherein the Minister sought the outlaw's help in settling a land case involving his son-in-law. </b>The channel claimed that the UP police had officially taped the conversation.
In turn, the Minister promised the outlaw, identified as Sundar Singh Bhati that the appointment of a jail superintendent by the UP Government would be stalled.
Gavit, who represents Nandurbar constituency of Maharashtra in Lok Sabha, however, flatly denied any conversation with the alleged outlaw. He claimed that the voice attributed to him in the tape was not his. He also claimed that he had never talked to the alleged outlaw on his cell phone.
Despite the Minister's repudiation, the BJP-led opposition made it clear that it would raise the issue in Parliament on Monday and demand that the Minister be sacked and a criminal case registered against him on the basis of the taped conversation.
"If Zee News claim that the tape was officially recorded by the law agencies is correct, this is a very serious matter and the Prime Minister should immediately remove the Minister and take action against him," BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar said.
Senior Supreme Court advocate and former Solicitor General Harish Salve also said that the tape was evidence of the Minister's culpability and his connections with the mafia don should be investigated by the police after taking him into custody.
Zee News claimed that the UP Police was officially taping the cell phone used by Sundar Singh Bhati in Bulandshahr Jail and the<b> Minister was talking to him from the phone of one of his associates and not from his official telephone.</b>
It also claimed that the official agency that had taped the alleged conversation, which took place in May this year, had satisfied itself that the voice on the taped conversation matched that of the Minister.
<b>The tape showed that the outlaw had sought the minister's help in getting the jail superintendent of Bulandshahr, identified as RK Kesarwani, transferred within 24 hours</b>. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Whether he had used offical or unofficial phone, minister should be kicked out ASAP.
Pioneer News Service | New Delhi
Private TV channel claims chat was officially recorded ---- A TV news channel exposure claiming to show<b> Union Minister of State for Home Manikrao Hodlya Gavit talking to a hardened criminal in a jail in Bulandshahr</b>, UP, on Sunday has given fresh ammunition to the NDA-led opposition to attack the UPA Government in Parliament.
Zee News on Sunday replayed parts of the<b> incriminating tape recording a conversation between the Minister and the jailed outlaw on the latter's cell phone wherein the Minister sought the outlaw's help in settling a land case involving his son-in-law. </b>The channel claimed that the UP police had officially taped the conversation.
In turn, the Minister promised the outlaw, identified as Sundar Singh Bhati that the appointment of a jail superintendent by the UP Government would be stalled.
Gavit, who represents Nandurbar constituency of Maharashtra in Lok Sabha, however, flatly denied any conversation with the alleged outlaw. He claimed that the voice attributed to him in the tape was not his. He also claimed that he had never talked to the alleged outlaw on his cell phone.
Despite the Minister's repudiation, the BJP-led opposition made it clear that it would raise the issue in Parliament on Monday and demand that the Minister be sacked and a criminal case registered against him on the basis of the taped conversation.
"If Zee News claim that the tape was officially recorded by the law agencies is correct, this is a very serious matter and the Prime Minister should immediately remove the Minister and take action against him," BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar said.
Senior Supreme Court advocate and former Solicitor General Harish Salve also said that the tape was evidence of the Minister's culpability and his connections with the mafia don should be investigated by the police after taking him into custody.
Zee News claimed that the UP Police was officially taping the cell phone used by Sundar Singh Bhati in Bulandshahr Jail and the<b> Minister was talking to him from the phone of one of his associates and not from his official telephone.</b>
It also claimed that the official agency that had taped the alleged conversation, which took place in May this year, had satisfied itself that the voice on the taped conversation matched that of the Minister.
<b>The tape showed that the outlaw had sought the minister's help in getting the jail superintendent of Bulandshahr, identified as RK Kesarwani, transferred within 24 hours</b>. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Whether he had used offical or unofficial phone, minister should be kicked out ASAP.