Gupta served notice on statement on match-fixing, other issues

Gupta served notice on statement on match-fixing, other issues
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

NEW DELHI, JULY 31: Union Finance Ministry has served a notice on the suspended Additional Commissioner Vishvabandhu Gupta for alleged misconduct in making irresponsible statement on match-fixing and other issues and asked to submit a reply within 10 days.

The memorandum charged Gupta with giving statements on the electronic media irresponsibly, without authority and recklessly on sensitive issue and even on matter of Government policy, constituting acts of gross indiscpline, unacceptable for any government servant, Ministry sources said.

Gupta has been charged with making a statement to the press that ``he had personal knowledge that several cricketers had disclosed concealed income under Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme''.

The memorandum charged that Gupta had written to Chief Election Commissioner that a Chief Minister was trying to protect Romesh Sharma, alleged to be frontman of Dawood Ibrahim gang, besides making allegation over electronic media that ``mafia invested in the Bollywood industry''.

When contacted, Gupta confirmed receipt of the memorandum of charges but said all the charges amounted to violation of his fundamental right to speak.

He said ``Whatever I have spoken have always led to unmasking of a major tax-evasion racket and even led to arrest of people like Romesh Sharma.''

Stating that he would soon file a reply to the authorities concerned, Gupta claimed that all his acts were within the framework of the Constitution and he had not raked up any sensitive issue which could harm the country's image.

``I am not an anti-national but only thing is that as a servant of the country I find it is my duty to expose criminals and their sympathisers,'' he said.

Gupta claimed that whatever he had charged so far had been proved. ``When I raided Romesh Sharma, everybody criticised me...but look what happened, he is now behind bars and properties grabbed by him have been restored back to their actual owners,'' he said.

Another charge levelled against Gupta is his statement that the CBI had deliberately not taken appropriate action in the Jain Hawala case. However, he said, ``The Apex Court had dismissed the case saying a chargesheet could not be filed only on the basis of entries into diaries.''

About his criticism of the VDIS scheme, which also figures in the memorandum, Gupta claimed that ``I have never criticised the scheme but only said that its implementation was done in a way to suit some vested interests''.

Gupta had earlier also been suspended in 1990 to 1994 when he was making an inquiry into foreign funds, allegedly received by the VHP.