CBI raids premises of Congress MLA

Sangrur, Oct 10 (UNI) The CBI found nothing 'objectionable' during raids conducted at three places owned by local MLA Arvind Khanna at Chandigarh and Sangrur.

The raids were conducted in connection with defence deals pertaining to disclosures made in the 'Tehelka' tapes.

According to local police sources here, a CBI team from New Delhi assisted by their Chandigarh counterparts raided Khanna Foundation, a charitable trust being run by Arvind Khanna, son of Mr Bipin Khanna. The elder Khanna alongwith Suresh Nanda, Sudhir Choudhury and Ms Sahani were believed to have received kickbacks in various defence deals as disclosed in the 'Tehelka' tapes.

According to Mr Rocky Gill a close friend of Arvind and a member of the Khanna Foundation,''no objectinable material'' was found during the raids. ''We cooperated with the CBI team'', he said while pointing out that no member of the Khanna family was present in town during the raid.

The CBI team from Delhi consisted of ten officials including a DSP and three inspectors. They left for Delhi after completing their task and were not avaliable for any comments.It could not be confirmed whether they had seized any documents or papers during the raid.

The raid which began here at 0730 hours lasted for five hours.

Earlier another CBI team raided the official residence of Mr Arvind Khanna in Sector 39 in Chandigarh and also a building which housed a office of Khanna Foundation in Sector-9.

The raids follow the handing over of the cases to the CBI by the Defence Ministry after disclosures of underhand dealings in defence procurement were made by 'Tehelka' through a sting operation.

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