New Delhi, Aug 2 (Inditop.com) Former union home minister Buta Singh Sunday accused the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) of “victimising” him and his son Sarabjot alias Sweety Singh, who was arrested by the probe agency for allegedly accepting a Rs.1 crore bribe.
“The CBI is corroborating with the complainant and is not playing the role of a investigating agency. I and my son are being victimised,” Buta Singh told reporters at a press conference here.
The former union minister, who is now chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes, also claimed that he was being politically targeted, but refused to name any political party.
“I will reveal this when the right time comes,” Buta Singh said.
His son Sweety Singh was arrested Friday on charges of accepting Rs.1 crore bribe – the first lot of the Rs.3 crore (Rs.30 million) that he had allegedly demanded from a contractor to have a case against him withdrawn by the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes commission that Buta Singh heads.
Buta Singh’s son has been remanded to police custody by a Mumbai court till Aug 5.
On Saturday, the CBI seized three unlicensed pistols and 38 cartridges from Sweety Singh’s Jangpura residence in south Delhi. A case under the Arms Act was registered against him at the Nizamuddin police station.
About the pistols found in his son’s house, Buta Singh said: “My son was a shooting champion and all the guns are licensed but only my son knows where the licences are.”
He has refused to step down as chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes and maintains the charges against his son are a ‘conspiracy’ against him and his family.
“I am a chairman of a constitutional forum, why would I resign? I do not know what transpired between him (others in the case) and my son. Under pressure (my son) would have made it (the confession),” Buta Singh had said Saturday.
According to the CBI, the corruption case against Sweety Singh follows a complaint from Nashik-based contractor Ramraj Patil.
Patil alleged that Sweety Singh demanded a bribe of Rs.30 million for the withdrawal of a case filed against Patil by a group of conservancy workers employed by him (Patil).
Patil is a garbage collection contractor with the Nashik Municipal Corporation. Some 100 workers complained he was not paying their wages and had taken a bank loan of Rs.100 million (Rs.10 crore) in their name.
