Thursday, October 29, 2009

‘Central, State Government protecting Amar Singh’

LUCKNOW, Oct 29: Lawyer Shivakant Tripathi, who filed a criminal case accusing Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh of financial fraud, on Thursday alleged that both the Central and State government were trying to protect the politician. Tripathi also alleged that Singh was a threat to his life.

"I am pursuing this forgery, that is initially of over Rs 500 crore, along with my two sons just for the betterment of the economy of the State. However, both the Central and the State Government are trying to protect him (Amar Singh) for their personal benefit," Tripathi said at a press conference here. The scam could well go over Rs 5,000 crore if investigated by an independent law enforcement agency, he alleged, adding he only sought the matter be investigated by an "independent and unbiased agency - be it central or State".

The case was lodged by Tripathi in Kanpur last week accusing Singh of using illegal means not only to bring about the merger of a number of companies into six companies owned by him, but also artificially raising the share prices of these companies. Initially the Uttar Pradesh Government had passed on the FIR to the Kolkata police on the plea that the companies referred to in the complaint were based there. However, the Kolkata police returned the FIR, remarking that Uttar Pradesh police was free to initiate action in the matter as the Kolkata address of the companies did not bar them from proceeding in the case. The case was transferred to the Uttar Pradesh police’s Economic Offence Wing (EOW) on Tuesday. (IANS)