Congress releases CD claiming Chhattisgarh CM took bribe

Raipur, July 21: The Chhattisgarh Congress party has released a CD that alleges that state Chief Minister Raman Singh and two of his ministers took bribes in crores in a seven-year-old bank fraud case. The CD is along with the transcript of a narco-analysis test of an accused, who the party alleges had claimed that bank officials had paid Rs. 1 crore each to the Chief minister, two senior cabinet ministers, the then Director General of Police and others in 2006.

Bank Manager Umesh Sinha and directors of the cooperative bank were arrested in this connection. The CD of Mr Sinha's narco-analysis test was released by Chhattisgarh Congress' programme coordinator Bhupesh Baghel and party spokesperson Shailesh Nitin Trivedi at a press conference at the Congress Bhawan on Saturday.

The Congress has claimed that Dinesh Patel, son of former state party chief Nand Kumar Patel, was planning an expose against Mr Singh and his ministers on June 15. However, the father-son duo, along with several top Congress leaders, were killed in a Naxal attack in May.

"The Chief Minster and his ministers were paid a total of 7 crore rupees. Nand Kumar Patel and Dinesh Patel were collecting evidence against this government and they had sent an SMS about this. It is likely that they were killed because of this...They should resign immediately. The police should also file an FIR after these revelations," Mr Bhagel said yesterday.

The Congress has also demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation against Raman Singh and his ministers.

Congress demanded Singh's resignation but the Chief Minister has dismissed the CD as fabricated.

His party, the BJP, has refused to react to the controversy saying the bank's corruption case is in court.

OneIndia News