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| Rs 2.6 Cr missing from BJP office | | |
Agencies
New Delhi: No one likes money to go missing. And it's harder if you can't even make a hue and cry about it. BJP finds itself in just such an
unenviable situation after its chief accountant reported that Rs 2.6 crore in cash had gone missing from the party's central office at 11, Ashoka Road.
The amount was taken, clean as a whistle, from a "tijori" (safe) in a small room to the back of the party headquarters, not far from BJP president Rajnath Singh's office. The theft came to light on Friday, when the office reopened after Christmas holiday, causing consternation in BJP circles.
The money was deposited on December 24 and apparently stolen on December 25, when the office was closed. The premises, however, have a fairly large resident population of staffers and party office bearers who live in the office building and the next bungalow — 9, Ashoka Road.
The theft was discovered by party old-timer Nalin Tandon, who has handled BJP accounts for several years, and is one of the few persons with access to the room with the safe. The incident looked like an "insider job" as there were no signs of forced entry while the safe lay unlocked. The door to the room and the safe had been opened with ease.
As a red-faced BJP brass mulled what had happened, it found itself wrestling with a peculiar dilemma — the money had possibly been collected for elections and was not accounted for and hence the police could not be called in. After consultations, the party called in a private detective agency to investigate into the theft.
The incident has left the party tongue-tied with no senior party leader ready to make a statement on the missing boodle. When contacted party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said he had no comment to make. Sources close to the BJP president said the matter was being examined, adding that an explanation could lie in an "accounting error". Reports were being sought from state units about money deposited with the central office.
An FIR would have been lodged if the money was part of official donations or generated by party activity like a membership drive. Delhi Police sources said they too had "heard" that a large sum was missing from the BJP office but pointed out that in the absence of a formal complaint there was little they could do.
There are a few theories and versions doing the rounds. Some claim Tandon has reported the key to the safe as missing while others contest this, saying keys were very much accounted for. Tandon has been the focus of the private investigators as well with operatives visiting his home. Staffers who live in the BJP quarters are being questioned even though party sources admit access to the room was limited to only a few.
Some in the party argue that Tandon, typically a low-profile RSS type, as the chief accountant had handled even larger sums of money in past, including during the 2004 general elections, while others slyly point to his expensive tastes in cigarettes and the Innova he drives which seem beyond his salary.
Apart from "the butler did it" theory, party sources talked about Tandon's recent differences with office secretary Shyam Jhaju when the office staff had agitated for higher pay. It is being suggested that Tandon's role in rallying staff was not appreciated.
The findings of the ongoing in-house inquiry are not known yet. But given the embarrassment BJP faces over the episode, it may have little option but to conclude that the purloined money was just a case of unreconciled accounts. This may leave the unknown felons richer by a couple of crores, but the party will probably grit its teeth and bear it.
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