Farooq being asked to quit in 3 days

Delhi takes it as political bribe, not ‘party fund’

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Oct 5: Even as Omar Abdullah government is likely to remove IG Crime and SSP Crime for allegedly advising two National Conference (NC) activists to change their statement so as to protect members of the ruling family, UPA leadership in New Delhi is asking Dr Farooq Abdullah to stay away from the Cabinet till he comes clean in disputed death of Syed Mohammad Yousuf. According to well-placed authoritative sources, New Delhi has refused to digest the “political bribe” of over Rs 1.00 Cr as NC’s “routine party fund”.

Paradoxically, the stand taken by Dr Farooq Abdullah as well as Omar Abdullah in a many political controversies---LK Advani, Kamal Nath, Lalit Modi, Shashi Tharoor and, latest, Ghulam Mohammad Saroori---is now being used against the NC top brass. Informed sources in the union capital disclosed to Early Times that in an attempt to prevent advancement of the Srinagar damage to the already beleaguered UPA government at the Centre, Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh were now persuading Dr Abdullah to step down as Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy and join back only after he comes clean in the charges of political corruption.

According to sources, Governor NN Vohra, in addition to Intelligence Bureau, has been asked by the Centre to furnish a detailed report on the entire episode, involving Syed Yousuf’s death in disputed circumstances and two other NC activists’ revelations of “contribution” of Rs 1.00 Cr for a ministerial berth and Rs 50 Lakh for a seat in Legislative Council. Even as Vohra’s report was still awaited, ground was being prepared for Dr Abdullah’s resignation in view of the political controversy assuming unforeseen proportions. By the latest indications available, sources said, Dr Abdullah was being asked to step down and produce himself before a judicial commission in the next three days.

Sources revealed that nobody among the men and women of consequence in the UPA was buying Dr Abdullah’s argument that the money collected by Syed Mohammad Yousuf from Mohammad Yousuf Bhat of Ganderbal and Abdul Salam Rishi of Akingam, Kokernag, was a “routine party fund” and not “political bribe” as played up by PDP and a section of media.

Rishi today revealed explicitly in an interview with Times Now Television that he paid money through late Syed Yousuf for getting NC’s ticket and becoming MLC in the elections conducted in March-April 2011. He revealed that “party fund” of Rs 1.00 Cr had been fixed for the “big job” and Rs 50 Lakh for the “small job”. When he was grilled to explain, he said that “big job” meant a seat in Legislative Council plus a ministerial berth while as the “small job” meant only a seat in the Legislative Council. Rishi, nevertheless, said that he had got back his money and he had not approached Chief Minister Omar Abdullah as a complainant on September 29^th.

Meanwhile, authoritative sources in the state government said that, in view of the latest disclosures made by Salam Rishi, two senior officials in Crime wing of J&K Police (IG Crime and SSP Crime) were likely to be removed in a couple of days. Significantly, Rishi disclosed that IG Crime as well as SSP Crime advised Yousuf Bhat to change his statement if he was keen to get back the amount of Rs 84 Lakh he had earlier paid to Syed Yousuf for becoming an MLC and Minister of State for R&B. According to him, both the Police officers advised Yousuf Bhat to mention in his written complaint that he had collected and forwarded the money for the purpose of getting some of clients recruited in the state government.

Farooq or actor Aijaz?

According to these sources, Dr Abdullah, with the help of the coalition government in Jammu & Kashmir, was trying to “prove” that he had never talked to either Yousuf Bhat or Salam Rishi on telephone. NC leadership has reliably claimed to the Centre that the deceased Syed Yousuf had actually engaged a famous voice entertainer from Awantipore, popularly known as ‘Actor Aijaz’, to mimic Dr Abdullah over telephone. In the months in question, February and March 2011, Aijaz was reportedly present in Jammu and spotted frequently with late Syed Yousuf at Legislative Complex, Civil Secretariat as well as Hotel Taj in Khatikan Talab, where the NC activist stayed.

Thirty-three-year-old ‘Actor Aijaz’ has been a ubiquitous voice entertainer at many official functions, particularly those organized by Police. His fans insist that his mimicry of top political leaders and bureaucrats, including Dr Abdullah, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Mehbooba Mufti, Speaker Akbar Lone and Khursheed Ahmad Ganai (IAS), was “amazing”. However, technology alone, like call detail record and tower locations of the phones used by Dr Abdullah, late Syed Yousuf, Yousuf Bhat, Salam Rishi and ‘Actor Aijaz’, would establish whether it was Dr Abdullah or Aijaz who spoke to Bhat and Rishi.

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