Oppn walkout in MP Assembly over Sabharwal murder

Bhopal, Nov 9 (UNI) Nearly two and a half month after Prof Harbhajan Singh Sabharwal was murdered in Ujjain, the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly today briefly discussed the issue and the opposition staged a walkout as the government turned down their demand for a CBI probe into the August 26 incident.

The house plunged into uproar on many occasions when the treasury bench stoutly objected to the opposition claim that the government was trying to save the ABVP leaders involved in the case, witnesses were being terrorised and their statements being changed and statements of eye witnesses were not recorded under section 164 CrPC.

Speaker Ishwardas Rohani expunged remarks of both opposition and ruling members few times and had quite often expressed displeasure over the uncalled for attitude of few ministers, including Cooperation Minister Gopal Bhargava.

Opposition members, led by their leader Jamuna Devi, staged the walkout at the end of the nearly hour long debate on the call attention notice moved by Dr I M P Verma, Mr Sajjan Singh Verma, Mr Arif Aqeel and others. The Speaker did not allow their plea to take up the issue as an adjournment motion.

Home Minister Nagendra Singh rejected the opposition plea for a CBI probe into the incident ''involving members of ABVP and other organisations associated with the ruling party'' saying the investigations were being conducted under Supreme Court monitoring and there was no inter-state ramifications warranting a CBI probe.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan came under attack many time for his reported statement that Prof Sabharwal's murder was an ''accident''.

In his clarification after repeated prodding, Mr Chouhan said his statement should be seen in totality and he had termed the incident as ''unfortunate''. The government had handed over the investigation to CID to ensure impartial inquiry and the guilty would not be spared. '' No attempt will be made to save or frame anybody and the law will take its course'', he added.

Action was being taken against the assailants on the basis of facts coming up during investigations, he pointed out.

Leader of the opposition Jamuna Devi alleged that the Chief Minister's earlier statement was aimed at ''influencing'' the investigations to save the assailants.

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