SP says has CD of petitioner talking of fixing judges

New Delhi, Mar 1 (UNI) Reacting to today's Supreme Court order to CBI to probe allegations of disproportionate assets against Uttar Pradesh chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, the Samajwadi Party today said it was in possession of an audio CD in which the petitioner talked of fixing judges.

''We will soon send the CD to the Chief Justice of India and to Justice A R Lakshmanan,'' SP General secretary Amar Singh said after playing it for mediapersons at a news conference here.

Justice Lakshmanan was one of the judges comprising the Bench which passed today's order.

Also claiming that petitioner Vishwanath Chaturvedi had admitted to a TV channel that he was a Congressman, Mr Singh said he had deceived the court by submitting to it that he had no political connections, on the basis of which his petition was maintained.

He said Mr Chaturvedi's sound bite to the channel will also be sent along with the CD containing his conversation with a local journalist Akhilesh Kumar who recorded the conversation and who was ready to depose in the court.

Mr Singh also presented Mr Kumar at the news conference.

When questioned about the authenticity of the voice which he claimed to be that of the petitioner in the case against Mr Yadav, the SP general secretary said the CD could be sent to Hyderabad Forensic Sciences Laboratory for establishing its genuineness.

He said that though he would not like to make any comment on the order of Justice Lakshmanan, he found it strange that BJP leader Sushil Modi's petition against RJD chief Lalu Prasad was not admitted on the ground that the petitioner was a political person.

The SP general secretary said that he had not much faith left in the CBI going by the way it acted in the Quattrocchi case.

Mr Singh said the Congress was full of political vendetta against his party and would do all to make use of agencies like the CBI for this purpose.

The SP general secretary said that the Supreme Court had simply asked the investigating agency to gather facts in response to the allegations of the petitioner.

Senior party leader Janeswar Misra, another general secretray Shahid Siddiqui, Chief whip of the Party in the Lok Sabha and MPs Jaya Bachchan and Jaya Prada were also present at the press conference.

The PIL had sought CBI inquiry into the assets running into over Rs 100 crore allegedly acquired by Mr Yadav and his family members by misusing his official status as state Chief Minister through corrupt means under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

According to the petitioner, Mr Yadav whose assets were only Rs 79,000 in 1977 owned assets worth over Rs 100 crore now.

UNI