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| Will Ansari pay or go off the hook? | | |
Early Times Special
JAMMU, August 1: The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) legislator, Mr Iftikhar Hussain Ansari, may have to appear before a local court here soon when a challan is produced against him in the infamous Sidhra land scam. The scam had first come to the surface over 10 years ago in 1997-98 when Mr Ansari was the Housing & Urban Development Minister in Farooq Abdullah ministry.
Mr Ansari worked closely with Dr Abdullah and got re-elected as a legislator from Pattan in 2002 on a National Conference (NC) ticket. He continued to be in the good books of the NC patron for the next few years as well. Barely three years ago, Mr Ansari parted ways with the Abdullahs and joined the PDP led by Mufti Mohammed Sayeed. In 2008, he won from the Pattan constituency on a PDP ticket though he had lost to Mr Mustafa Kamal of the NC in a by-election earlier.
The case was handed over to the Crime Branch in 1999 and it is only 10 years later now that the investigation has apparently been completed. Why did the investigation take so long?
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) chief, Mr Radha Vinod Raju, had handled the investigation into the case at one time when he was working in the state police. Mr Raju has an impeccable reputation for being a thorough investigator. Mr Raju is reported to have guided the investigating team into the Sidhra land scam ably and gathered sufficient evidence to nail Mr Ansari. However, the collection of evidence and incriminating documents etc has proved insufficient for the police to lay its hands on the PDP legislator.
Some policemen associated with the investigation into the scam earlier said it was a tough task gathering evidence against powerful Mr Ansari who wielded tremendous influence in the administration.
It is often said that law treats everybody just the same and in the eyes of the law, the poor and the richest, commoners or ministers are all equal. From the Sidhra land scam, however, one can perhaps infer that the law-enforcers or policemen definitely treat different people differently. It would not be wrong to say that the police act promptly against the poor and the powerless. But when it comes to people like Mr Ansari, the police itself becomes powerless and helpless as well.
Those associated with the investigation fear that the sanction for prosecution of Mr Ansari can create a political storm as he is now in the opposition PDP. They believe the first allegation they may have to face is that of the case being ``politically motivated’’. They are also not willing to hazard a guess as to how long the case may continue in the court of law.
According to some lawyers practicing in the Jammu & Kashmir High Court, Mr Ansari enjoys certain immunities as he is a legislator. But if the Crime Branch provides sufficient proof of his alleged complicity in the case, the court may have no choice but to proceed against him.
It may be mentioned here that Mr Ansari is a Shia cleric and has wide-ranging business interests. Some days ago, when the Chief Minister, Mr Omar Abdullah, submitted his conditional resignation letter to the Governor, Mr N N Vohra, the NC supporters had targeted Mr Ansari’s car showroom, as also residence, in Srinagar.
Quickly springing to his defence, Mr Ansari’s supporters had alleged that he was being targeted because of his religious persuasion or being a Shia. For any possible damage control, the NC had fielded its minister, Mr Aga Ruhulla Mehdi, another Shia, to deflate these claims.
Journalists and politicians knowing Mr Ansari well believe it will not be easy to pin him down as he is a past master in court cases. They also point to the fact that Mr Ansari will perhaps not have to go far for legal advice as one of the brightest lawyers of the state, Mr Muzaffar Hussein Beigh, is his comrade in arms.
Justice delayed in justice denied is a well-known aphorism but by all available indications, it appears that Mr Ansari’s trial will be a long drawn affair.
In this connection, it is also pertinent to remember that Mr Ansari has been waging a court battle with a Sikh gentleman for the last three decades over a piece of land located in Srinagar city. Mr Ansari has been in possession of this land all through this period. The contention of the Sikh gentleman is that he is the rightful owner of the land and that Mr Ansari had deprived him illegally and fraudulently of this land located in Tulsi Bagh.
The Sikh gentleman’s family is settled in Canada and he spends months every year in Jammu pursuing the matter in the courts but failed to get Mr Ansari evicted from the land so far. The matter is now pending in a local subordinate court here in Jammu.
It is a safe assumption that even if the case is decided one or the other, it can perhaps drag on for another three decades at higher levels, beginning with the district court, the high court and then all the way to the Supreme Court.
Is there anything to suggest that the court trial in the Sidhra land scam will be any different?
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