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| Home Secy Anil Goswami sacked | | For trying to stall arrest of Sardha scam accused and ex-union minister Matang Singh | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Feb 4: Anil Goswami, the first bureaucrat from J&K to rise to the post of union home secretary, has been sacked for interfering with CBI probe into the multi-crore Sardha chit fund scam to stall the arrest of Congress leader and ex-minister Matang Singh, an accused in the case.
He was given marching orders later Wednesday night. The final decision was taken after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh met and discussed the issue, highly placed sources said.
Goswami is the third top-ranking bureaucrat to have been shunted out since the Modi government took charge. Earlier, in January the tenures of Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh and DRDO chief Avinash Chander were cut short.
Goswami, who was summoned by Singh Wednesday morning, admitted to calling the CBI officials dealing with the Saradha case, sources said.
The home minister met the home secretary and CBI Director Anil Sinha in the matter, separately but in quick succession in North Block Wednesday morning. The meetings lasted over thirty minutes each, the sources added.
"During his meeting with the home minister, Goswami confirmed that he had made the calls," sources said.
His tenure would have ended in June but has been curtailed following the serious charges. While Goswami remained unavailable for comment till late tonight, he went on with his official routine after meeting the home minister. He attended office till late in the evening and also held a meeting with Defence Ministry officials, the sources added.
Accused in the multi-crore Saradha scam, Singh was arrested by CBI last Saturday. "His phone was under surveillance for some time before the arrest and call records showed that Singh had also spoken with the home secretary," sources said.
Singh was charged with criminal conspiracy, cheating and misappropriation of funds. He had been questioned by the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI on several occasions. His companies had allegedly received Rs 30 cr from Saradha Group.
Goswami landed in trouble soon after it became known that he had made calls to CBI to stall the arrest of Congress leader and ex-union minister Matang Singh in the Sardha chit fund scam. CBI had submitted a comprehensive report in this regard to the prime minister's office in New Delhi.
Earlier, Union minister of state for home, Kiren Rijiju said he had so far not received any report on the home secretary calling up CBI to influence its investigation in the Sardha chit fund scam. He, however, made it clear that as and when such a report was received by his ministry, there would surely be an investigation followed by an action against the guilty.
"Apart from Goswami, CBI has in its report also named its joint secretary for putting pressure on its sleuths who are engaged in the investigation of infamous Sardha chit fund scam. Both have tried to influence the investigators to stall Matang's arrest," the sources added.
It is pertinent to mention here that the CBI team, probing into the Sardha chit fund scam, had summoned Matang for questioning Saturday last. During his questioning, he was said to have made repeated attempts to influence the CBI team by saying that he had connections at the higher level. But after five hours of questioning when he apprehended his arrest, he sought the help of senior officers to influence investigation and stall his arrest. Obliging him, Goswami and the CBI joint secretary allegedly telephoned the CBI investigation team.
A senior CBI official said the phone calls of Goswami and the joint secretary amounted to direct interference in their probe. "Even courts can't interfere in CBI probes," he asserted.
Goswami was to retire in June/July this year. He had "tried to influence, even dissuade" the CBI from acting against Matang.
Matang was arrested last week in the Saradha scam in which thousands of small investors in Bengal and Odisha were cheated out of their savings. The CBI alleges that there were large, unexplained transactions worth Rs 30 cr between Sinh and Saradha which need investigation.
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