MP dead, Rs 3,000 cr PSU scam gets murkier

Lok Sabha MP, Ajit Singh, made headlines briefly when he was run over by a bus in Bihar's Siwan district. But there is more to the story.

Ajit Singh was involved in the Rs 3,600 crore NAFED scam exposed by a CNN-IBN Special Investigation. As NAFED Chairman, Ajit Singh had authorised loans from NAFED to firms blacklisted by the Commerce Ministry to import petroleum products and mineral ores.

Documents from NAFED available with CNN-IBN's SIT reveal that the biggest beneficiary was the Chairman of Earthtech Enterprises Limited, OP Aggarwal, who borrowed a massive Rs 2,744 crores and is currently a defaulter.

JD(U) Chairman, Sharad Yadav says Ajit Singh was helping the CBI in investigating the scam and alleges that OP Aggarwal may have wanted Singh out of the way.

"OP Aggarwal, whose passport was found, is blacklisted. His company was given a loan worth Rs 1200 crore. I think the company is fake. Their friends were saying that he had received a call from Dubai. It is obvious that they are involved," says Sharad Yadav.

In Delhi, OP Aggarwal's son, Manish says he is not in talking terms with his father and so has nothing to say about his alleged involvement in Ajit Singh's death.

However, in Patna, Ajit Singh's family backs this conspiracy-cum-murder theory, and are demanding a CBI inquiry.

Ajit Singh's son, Vishal Singh says, "On the face of it, I think that it's a planned thing, but that's what my family thinks. We are suffering, we are in a situation where we think someone has murdered my father."

Vishal's younger brother, Ranjit Singh says, "There were big deals that had happened and a lot of money was involved in the NAFED episode. It has to be investigated very thoroughly."
Sharad Yadav says Ajit Singh had told him about the threat to his life. Singh allegedly told Yadav that senior NAFED officers involved in the scam had dragged his name into it.
"The officials have taken care of it. I have been kept in the dark," says Sharad Yadav as way of explanation.

CNN-IBN's SIT contacted former additional managing director of NAFED, Homi Rajvansh, and asked him for a response to Sharad Yadav's allegation.

Rajvansh gave a written response which read: "The facts on record prove that all business undertaken by NAFED was as per directions of the management of NAFED and was undertaken after taking prior written approval of the Chairman Ajit Singh and MD Alok Ranjan."
Rajvansh had made the same statement to the CBI, also alleging that Ajit Singh and Managing Director of NAFED, Alok Ranjan, had harassed him by initiating vigilance memos against him.
When contacted, Alok Ranjan refused to come on camera, saying the case of corruption in NAFED was currently subjudice. Instead he dispatched a legal notice to prevent CNN-IBN from airing the story.

When CNN-IBN's SIT tried again to contact Alok Ranjan, instead of answering the queries, the team was pushed, abused and Ranjan ran away in his car.

There are a lot of reasons to believe Ajit Singh's accident was not a simple one. The Siwan Police is not ruling out the possibility of a well-planned murder.

Now the case is under investigation, but the big question which remains unanswered is: what will happen to the Rs 3,600 crore which NAFED diverted in its tie-up business with black listed companies?