States: Assam [Surprise Reprieve]

Assam Governor S K Sinha with Prafulla Mahanta

On February 5, Assam Governor Lt-General (retd) S.K. Sinha entered the history books. In an unprecedented move, he denied sanction for the prosecution of Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta in the Letter of Credit (LOC) scam. His verdict: "I have come to the conclusion that the CBI investigation has not yielded prima facie evidence establishing criminal culpability of Shri P.K. Mahanta, chief minister of Assam. Therefore, I have rejected the recommendation to accord sanction for his prosecution." The governor's verdict ended five weeks of speculation over whether Mahanta would have to resign as chief minister or not. Coming as it did on the eve of parliamentary elections, it has rejuvenated the insipid campaign of the ruling Asom Gana Parishad (AGP). At the party's office in Guwahati, it was as if the election campaign had just begun.

The previous day, the governor had returned from Delhi after seeking the opinion of such legal luminaries as J.S. Verma, former chief justice of India, and H.R. Khanna, former Supreme Court judge. The decision to deny sanction, the governor said, was made only after taking into account the views of these eminent jurists.

WEAK EVIDENCE

Rajen Borah paid Rs 40 lakh to Mahanta.
No corroborative evidence.

Borah purchased an air ticket to Delhi for Mahanta.
No evidence to support this.

Borah purchased 2,000 bundles of corrugated iron sheets and sent them to Mahanta's constituency in Nagaon.
No evidence to prove this.

Bank drafts given by Borah were distributed by Mahanta.
The figures for the bank drafts have varied: no evidence to show that Mahanta misappropriated the amount.

The CBI had sought the governor's sanction on December 29 for Mahanta's alleged involvement in the LOC scam. On January 5, the governor got back, asked for 13 additional documents and sought 24 clarifications from the CBI. But when they came two weeks later, crucial documents relating to the legal opinion of the Additional Solicitor-General of India Altaf Ahmad were withheld. Predictably, these documents went against the grain of the CBI's case: Ahmad had clearly said that there was no case against Mahanta.

The governor had also asked the CBI if there was any evidence to prove that Mahanta had assets disproportionate to his income. To which the CBI replied that "the subject was not part of the investigation". According to the governor, "This logic is untenable as the investigation into disproportionate assets has been made in case of the other accused."

The CBI had also charged that Mahanta had entered into a criminal conspiracy with Rajen Borah, prime accused in the scam, to defraud the state of Rs 48.1 crore; had appointed him chairman of the Livestock Corporation; and given him an AGP ticket to contest the election. But again, the governor said: "No evidence of such a conspiracy has been provided ... the fact that Mahanta approved the appointment of Borah as chairman of Livestock Corporation or gave him a party ticket to contest the assembly elections has been quoted by the CBI to support the charge of conspiracy. These facts may be part of the routine duties of a chief minister or a party leader."

Besides, Sinha argued that the CBI's claim that Borah had close ties with Mahanta could be dismissed by quoting Borah's statement of December 22, 1996: "I was not very much known (sic) to P.K. Mahanta."

The governor's decision, predictably, caused ripples in Assam's political circles. The AGP wasted no time in holding a press conference where senior party minister Digen Bora said: "The conspiracy hatched by CBI Director R.C. Sharma and the Congress has been exposed." But state Congress General Secretary Akon Bora called the governor's decision "unfortunate". "The governor should not have acted like a judge. He should have let the court decide the case," he said.

But the fact that the governor did not wait for the elections to be over before he gave his decision has drawn widespread criticism. Now, say observers, the AGP has a fresh issue for its otherwise lacklustre poll campaign.