NEW DELHI, May 3 � At least 38 cases have been handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the North-east during the last three years by the State Governments and Constitutional courts.
The CBI is probing 35 regular cases and three preliminary inquiries, Minister of State for Personnel Narayan Swamy said in a Rajya Sabha reply to a question by Kumar Deepak Das.
The cases on trial include a case of former Lok Sabha MP and Congress leader Mani Kumar Subba who has been charge-sheeted by the CBI for deceptively declaring his age, Narayanswamy said.
As on March 31, out of the total regular cases, charge-sheets have been filed in 19 cases, while 14 other are still under investigation. Closure report has been filed in one case, while one case has been handed over to SIT, Imphal.
Out of the three preliminary enquiries, two have been closed and one is pending due to a stay by the Supreme Court.
It was alleged that Subba deceptively got an affidavit signed from Phanindranath Sarkar, falsely mentioning that he was born on March 16, 1958 and on the basis of which he obtained a birth certificate from municipal authorities of Siliguri.
Subba also declared false age and place of birth while contesting for Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. He also made false claims regarding his educational qualifications while contesting elections to the 14th Lok Sabha from Tezpur Parliamentary Constituency.
It was further charged by the CBI that Subba got issued a letter dated June 11, 1993 from the Secretary, Assam Legislative Assembly, certifying his date of birth as March 16, 1951 and got issued his passport (No P026435 dated July 5 1993) from Regional Passport Office, Guwahati.
Meanwhile, all the five cases of alleged misappropriation of government funds in North Cachar Hills district, which created a political storm in Assam, were shown as under investigation. All the cases were registered last year after being referred by Assam Government.
The closure report was filed in the case of kidnapping of Prasanna Turang and his wife and was referred to by Assam Government.
Another case referred to by the Supreme Court, which was closed, included the alleged abuse of official position. It was alleged that authorities of Silchar Jail abused their position and extended undue facilities to three convicts. At least two of the three convicts were allegedly released by jail authorities. It was also alleged that authorities of Central Jail, Dibrugarh allegedly released a convict on parole, who later absconded.
