Blasts accused had met Vajpayee before they met Bhujbal

Blasts accused had met Vajpayee before they met Bhujbal
PRAFULLA MARPAKWAR

MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 8: The on-going row over two of the main accused in the serial bomb blasts case meeting Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal at his official residence took a new turn today following Samajwadi Party Vice-President Majeed Memon's disclosure that the two had also met Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Union Minister for Information Technology Pramod Mahajan for seeking justice.

``All the leaders were apprised of the problems of the accused and the Prime Minister had even assured effective remedial measures to redress their grievances,'' Memon said in a memorandum submitted to Governor P C Alexander.

According to Memon, some of the accused, who have been granted bail by the court on merits, have received threats to their lives and some of them have been actually attacked. ``When we took up the matter with the presiding officer, he suggested that security should be sought from the police as the government and the judge could not arrange for security for them outside the court,'' Memonadded.

Under such circumstances, Memon said representations were made to Commissioner of Police R H Mendonca, the then Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde and a delegation of the Raza Academy, along with the two accused Noor Khan and Salim Durrani met Vajpayee and Mahajan.

He said last week, his party took up the matter with Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, since it was difficult for the accused to reach the court without adequate security. ``Bhujbal heard us and assured to take some action, but he has not taken any concrete steps so far,'' he added.Meanwhile, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh today described Rane's allegation that Bhujbal had links with ISI as baseless and false. `We are in public life and hundreds of people meet us to redress their grievances. Under such circumstances, it will be wrong to say that the minister has links with ISI. These are politically motivated charges,'' Deshmukh said.

On the opinion given by Additional Advocate General P Janardhanan that criminal proceedingsshould be initiated against Rane for suppressing information on ISI, Deshmukh said it has been forwarded to Commissioner of Police R H Mendonca for appropriate action. ``Now, on the basis of the opinion of the Advocate General, it is for the Commissioner of Police to decide on the course of action,'' Deshmukh added.

According to Janardhanan, since he has given the opinion, it was for the police to initiate criminal proceedings against the politicians, who are accused of hiding the information.

``Legally, it is binding on the police to take action, but I can't force nor advice them to initiate proceedings,'' he added.

Replying to a question, Janardhanan said, police cannot register an offence on their own, since under the Criminal Procedure Code, police will have to obtain the permission of the magistrate before initiating the proceedings.

``As per the provisons of law, it will be a non-cognisable offence and police will have to obtain permission of the magistrate before taking any legal action,'' heremarked.