Despite his Maya praise, UP Govt to go after Amar

Lucknow: Notwithstanding former Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh's sudden attempt to woo the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Uttar Pradesh Government has decided to seek the help of a chartered accountant to probe the alleged fraud case against him.

The case was registered with the state's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) by a local lawyer Shiv Kant Tripathi, who had alleged a Rs 500 crore scam by Amar Singh.

The high profile politician was accused of using illegal means not only in bringing about amalgamation of a number of companies into six companies owned by him, but also in artificially raising the premium of shares of these companies.

Amar Singh was alleged to have used the amalgamation to legitimise a lot of "black money" parked in the name of scores of companies in which, along with him, his wife Pankaja Kumari Singh and mega-star Amitabh Bachchan owned cross-holdings.

"Since the matter involved major financial and accounting intricacies, expert advice was required to get to the root of the bungling. Therefore, we have decided to seek the services of a chartered accountancy firm," a senior police officer told IANS.

The case was being "personally monitored" by state Director General of Police Karmveer Singh. It is learnt that the previous director general of police Vikram Singh was removed suddenly from the post because Amar Singh had allegedly managed to tackle him.

Senior Samajwadi leader, and now the party's spokesman, Mohan Singh was not surprised at Amar's sudden praise for both Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. "Now that the Damocles sword was hanging around his neck in the form of this economic offences wing probe, Amar Singh was obviously intending to build bridges with the ruling party in the state as well as the centre," remarked Mohan Singh.

In an interview to a TV channel in New Delhi, Amar Singh had not only showered praise on Sonia, but gone to the extent of saying, "I can understand Mayawati's pain after being hounded by Mulayam Singh's men in the state guest house at Lucknow in 1995."