Underlining the growing strain in the Congress-led J&K coalition over the sex abuse scandal, Peoples’ Democratic Party leader and Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Beig, who is also Law Minister, claimed today that “some powerful men in the government are trying to scuttle the ongoing CBI probe” and the sex abuse case is only the ‘‘tip of the iceberg.”

These men, Beig said, were circulating “various lists (of accused)” and spreading “rumours about everyone” to “blackmail and erode the credibility of the probe.”

These remarks assume significance given that the J-K Congress issued a strong statement accusing the PDP for ‘‘its silent burial to the scandal when it first surfaced in 2004.” And blamed former CM Mufti Mohammad Sayeed for this.

The statement also accused the PDP of “(having an) unholy nexus with militants” and alleged that ‘‘there are three serving ministers who...continue anti-national activities even after becoming Ministers.”

Beig denied these charges: “If there was any hush-up, it was at the level of police officers who were involved in it.” He said there were efforts to cover up the present scandal. ‘‘The (police) report (on the sex abuse scam) was prepared on March 6 and all statements (of accused and victims) were recorded before that...CM didn’t know until May. Why was this matter not brought to the notice of the Chief Minister (Ghulam Nabi Azad) until it was reported in the media?”