New Delhi: Coming out in defence of embattled Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and Law Minister Ashwani Kumar, the Congress yesterday said no action will be taken against them immediately, even as opposition continued to press for their ouster.
“There is a probe going on, let the result come. We will decide after that,” Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said after a meeting of the Congress core group at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s official residence here.
“My request to all of you would be, since the honourable railway minister has welcomed the investigation, let the investigation fructify. I don’t think it is keeping in view with the of Indian jurisprudence to prejudge or pre-decide issues,” Tewari said.
Bansal’s nephew Vijay Singla was arrested on Saturday by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs90 lakh. The bribe was paid to him here on Friday by two people for getting a senior railway officer, Mahesh Kumar, appointed as a member of the powerful Railway Board. Mahesh Kumar was appointed to the post on May 2.
Apart from Singla, three others — Sandip Goyal, Dharmendra Kumar and Vivek Kumar — were sent to CBI custody till May 7. Three more accused, Narain Rao Manjunath, managing director of G G Tronics India Pvt Ltd, Samir Sandhir and Rahul Yadav, were taken in CBI custody yesterday.
On Ashwani Kumar, Tewari said the matter is sub-judice and a decision will be taken after the Supreme Court’s decision.
“As far as the law minister is concerned, the matter is sub judice. As far as I know, on May 8 it will be taken up by the Supreme Court, if the government has to say anything, government will say it in the Supreme Court through its law officers,” he said.
The law minister has been charged with interfering in a report of CBI in the allocation of coal blocks.
IANS
