Iqbal Singh writes to Chidambaram; denies reports of link with Hasan Khan

Lt Governor Iqbal Singh belongs to Jalandhar.

In this letter Singh mentioned that “It is pertinent to mention here that I did not know the said applicant,H Khan at all,neither did I ever meet him. I only issued the letter for expeditious issue of his passport,believing the assertions of a known Congress leader,Amalendu Pandey,to the effect that his brother was not well,on purely humanitarian and compassionate grounds”.

“It is also pertinent to mention that I did not verify his application for issue of passport which contains a specific clause that the officer/MP verifying knows the person,as I did not know him,hence I did not verify the application,” said the Lt Governor in his statement.

Singh said that when he was a Rajya Sabha member from 1992 to 1998,on April 4,1997,Bihar Congress leader Amalendu Pandey approached him for issuance of passport for someone from Passport Office Patna on compassionate,health ground as the brother of person seeking passport was seriously ill abroad and the presence of the applicant for looking after his brother was extremely essential.

“In view of the plea explained by Amalendu Pandey,I referred the case to the then Minister of External Affairs, IK Gujral,on April 4,1997 regarding issue of passport to H Khan intimating that necessary instructions have been issued to the passport officer in Patna,” said Singh in his statement.

He also mentioned that it has appeared in the newspapers that one constable Ashok Kumar collected the passport of H Khan from the passport office Patna and the said Ashok Kumar was his security guard. “I distinctly remember that I did not send anyone to collect the passport from Patna of H. Khan or for that matter of anyone else. As far as I remember,there was no constable by the name of Ashok Kumar as PSO with me during 1997 or at any time before or after that,” he added .

Iqbal Singh also said that he had also recommended another case on the insistence of Amalendu Pandey,that of Chandrika Tapuriah belonging to the Birla family,for renewal of passport on the ground that her husband developed some serious brain problem and he had to be taken abroad for treatment.