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Gehlot retracts inquiry against minister

Kamla Bora in Jaipur

In a volte-face, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has decided against holding a police inquiry into charges that Agriculture Minister Tayyeb Hussain has links with agents of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence.

The chief minister had ordered the probe after the Vishwa Hindu Parishad made the charges in a memorandum. An official spokesman had told reporters that chief minister had ordered the probe at the instance of Hussain himself, who wanted to clear his name once for all.

But the government has now decided to hold an inquiry by the criminal investigation department (crime branch) into other charges levelled in the memorandum, but not into the minister's conduct.

The chief minister is believed to have been forced to change the decision under pressure from senior party colleagues. Several Congress politicians, including former Union minister Natwar Singh, openly supported Hussain and charged the Bharatiya Janata Party and the VHP with spreading falsehoods.

An official release said in Jaipur on Friday that the CID would now inquire into the alleged atrocities on Hindus in the Mewat region, dominated by the Meos, a Muslim community.

An officer of the level of superintendent of police will also inquire into the alleged criminal activities in the region, including the attack on the house of a social worker, Sunita, who runs Aam Anganwari (a children's play school), by the husband of a Muslim sarpanch, Jamalu, and his colleagues in village Kathaul in Bharatpur district.

To ensure that the inquiry is free and fair, Deputy Superintendent of Police Prahalad Singh Meena of Kaman in Bharatpur has been transferred, the release added.

The BJP and VHP had demanded Hussain's sacking and an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Similar charges had been levelled against Hussain in the last budget session of the state assembly. But he had denied them on the floor of the House. This time too he has denied all charges, saying they were politically motivated.

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