CBI to quiz Mayawati in NRHM scam? It's just a red herring for a political give-and-take

After years of investigation into the multi-crore National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) claims to have stumbled upon a new evidence which will require the inquisition of Mayawati, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief. The scam took place during Mayawati’s regime between 2007 and 2012.  A series of mysterious killings of a few prime accused, including some medical officers, and the arrest of top officers such as IAS official Pradip Shukla  for partaking in defalcation of government money, shook her regime in its dying years. But the CBI stayed miles away from Mayawati. [caption id=“attachment_2441458” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] PTI image[/caption] There is little doubt that the CBI’s deliberate and selective leakage of the news that it intends to interrogate Mayawati is a red-herring. Those investigating the case admit that it would be next to impossible for the investigating agency to gather prosecutable evidence against the BSP chief. Apparently the CBI is relying on changing testimonies of one of the prime accused-turned-approver Girish Malik. Malik, a scam kingpin, was close to Babu Singh Kushwaha, who was then a close confidant of Mayawati and in-charge of the implementation of the NRHM. For the past three years, Malik has been changing his statements and indicting people randomly. His most immediate allegation, according to CBI sources, is that Mayawati bifurcated the health ministry in order to facilitate swindling of public money. A close scrutiny of documents by top CBI sleuths found this theory untenable in the court of law. “It is very difficult to prove that the entire cabinet was involved in the scam,” they point out, referring to the fact that bifurcation of a ministry would have had to pass through the cabinet.

Top CBI officials were always hesitant to take this investigation to the doorstep of Mayawati not only for political reasons, but also for want of credible evidence against her in court.

It seems quite unlikely that ground reality has changed. The CBI’s move prima facie seems to be hardly guided by the requirement of the investigation. In fact it would have done good to the image of the CBI if Mayawati had been interrogated at the beginning of the probe. But a favourable and lenient Manmohan Singh government seemed to have provided a protective cover. With the change of guard at the Centre, the threat of interrogating her by the CBI might just be another point of political leverage in the hands of the incumbent government. Strangely enough, Mayawati’s position is not dissimilar to her bete noire in UP politics, Mulayam Singh Yadav. Of late incriminating evidence has surfaced that indicates the involvement of family members and close associates of Mulayam Singh Yadav in the Yadav Singh scam. Yadav Singh, a promoted engineer-in-chief of Noida (adjoining Delhi), was nabbed by IT officials with cash worth crores. Subsequent investigations revealed that he amassed huge wealth and partnered with influential members of the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) in his dubious ventures. Despite stiff resistance from the Akhilesh Yadav government, the Allahabad high court referred the case to the CBI marking the beginning of Mulayam Singh Yadav’s travails. Mulayam’s breaking away with the grand secular alliance in Bihar and going alone like the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is seen as a politically placatory gesture towards the BJP. The latest leak just reaffirms the CBI’s impression that governments will come and go but the CBI will remain a ‘caged parrot’. Forever.