Justice JS Verma
Hon’ble Chief Justice of India
Supreme Court of India
New Delhi

Your Lordship,

I am approaching you with great pain and anguish. When in July 1993 I started investigating the Hawala case, all my well-wishers advised me not to take such a big risk. A risk of antagonising 115 most powerful people in the country. I was not at the fag end of my career, where it would not have mattered. My sons were only 4 and 9 years old. Unlike the celebrity crusaders, I did not have the backing of a media house, a corporate house or a political party. My fight was against the entire system. I don’t think there is a parallel of Hawala case, where both the ruling and opposition parties are involved in a single scandal. That is why nobody wanted to take it up. Yet I dared to challenge the might of those who claim to be controlling the destiny of this nation.

2. There are only a few people who at different stages helped me with their limited resources and abilities but nobody has written about them. Much later, when I filed the PIL, three co-petitioners were thrust upon me by Mr. Ram Jethmalani. They did not contribute positively. Rather their actions have been damaging to the cause. Mr. Jethmalani also played dirty tricks. He even attempted to give me a huge sum of money so that he could help the Jains and other accused. Failing to do so he changed sides. I was shocked to see his immoral behaviour and lust money at this stage.
3. Your Lordship will appreciate that what hardships, threats to life and temptations of money and power would have come in way. Your Lordship, I am under no illusion that I am an exceptionally brave person to have done so. I feel God is kind upon me to have used me as an instrument for this good cause.
4. Your Lordship, I knocked at the door of the Supreme Court in Oct. 1993 with the complaint : “ That some powers sitting in Dubai and London are funding the militancy in Kashmir and are also distributing money to the prominent politicians and bureaucrats. The money is coming through clandestine Hawala channels. CBI has all the information and sufficient evidence to investigate and prosecute these people but is shamelessly sitting over the matter since 3rd May 1991.” I wanted the Hon’ble Judges of the Apex Court to ensure that the CBI and other agencies perform their obligatory duties and arrest / prosecute the guilty under the relevant sections of TADA, POC, FERA, Income Tax and COFEPOSA.
5. Your Lordship was kind enough to take serious interest from Nov. 1994 onwards till Oct. 1996. I kept assisting the Court through my learned counsel, Mr. Anil B. Divan. Mr. Divan is an honest, upright and conventional man. He has the humility to accept his limited knowledge of criminal law. Yet, I have all the admiration for what he did in this case. I have full faith in him and I would not have bothered you by writing this letter. But off late the last four years’ hard work which all of us had put in on this front, appears to be going down the drain.
6. What have we achieved? CBI was not investigating the matter. Politicians and bureaucrats were going scot-free, they are still going scot-free. Most shocking omission is, Your Lordship! that the TADA angle of this case has been totally ignored. Innocent people are still being killed by the militants in the different parts of the country. And the politicians get away by blaming the unknown foreign powers. But here in this case Your Lordship! the complete nexus was exposed by me and yet nothing has happened. The CBI blatantly, under the scrutiny of the Hon’ble Court, did not make use of the statements u/s 15 of TADA available with them thereby surrendering the presumptive evidence u/s 21 of TADA.
7. The Income Tax and the FERA authorities have also not moved an inch in this case, although huge amount of foreign currency were seized. Hence, the presumptive provisions of FERA being ignored with impunity.
8. The account books, which were the basis of this entire case are being dismissed as inadmissible evidence. This is happening by adopting narrow interpretation of several provisions of the Evidence Act. Your Lordships may recall having passed a detailed order on 11.7.95 to ensure the protection of these documents, because they appeared to be very precious to the Hon’ble Judges. The net result is that the politicians are going scot-free and the bureaucrats and other unidentified coded names are yet to be identified by the CBI after investigating the case for more than 6 years. What a shame! The unidentified code names could very well be of terrorists or of enemy agents etc.
9. Your Lordship, what about the corrupt officials of the CBI and other govt. agencies who apparently took huge sums of money from the Jains to suppress the investigation for all these years? Is there no punishment for them? What lesson will their subordinates and colleagues learn? Accept bribe, suppress investigation and then go scot-free even under the scrutiny of the Apex Court!
10. Your Lordship, why can’t CBI’s ‘case file’ related to the Hawala case numbering 3/5(S)/91-SIU-V- parts I to V, 2/1(A)/95-ACU-VI and 3/1(A)95-ACU-VI-parts I to V along with all the volumes is being brought to the Apex Court. If examined properly these files will help in fixing the responsibility in one week’s time. So that all the guilty officials can instead be charge-sheeted for offences u/s 120B-IPC r/w 218-IPC and see 13(d) r/w 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act for causing irreparable harm to the CBI. These officials have endangered the security of the nation by not doing their duty. Your Lordship! if the officials of other government departments would have done the same CBI sleuths would have arrested them by now. How can they be allowed to go scot-free for the same crime?
11. Your Lordship, 1996 dawned with a new face of Indian Judiciary. It raised the hopes of the millions of impoverished people of this country. But 1997 has come as a bad omen. All that was achieved is being fast lost. Nobody is willing to believe that these politicians are innocent. People wonder why the raids did not continue at the premises of the Hawala tainted politicians? Are Arif Md. Khan, Sukhram and Jayalalitha the exceptions of Indian politics? Why the bribe givers were arrested and not the bribe receivers? Why the bribe givers were searched and not the bribe takers?
12. Your Lordship may I ask you, how is it that in the last 50 years not a single top politician or bureaucrat has been convicted for corruption? Although, corruption in India has crossed all limits of shame? Why Your Lordships why? We are under obligation to answer to the nation.
13. Your Lordship may recall that on April 8th 1995, I had filed an Affidavit which is on page 200 - 219 of the paper book of my writ petitions (crl) Nos. 340-43 of 1993, wherein I had given enough details on how the investigating agencies were intentionally suppressing the investigations under TADA, FERA, COFEPOSA etc. This affidavit has not even been read in the Court. It has not even been replied by the CBI and other authorities. If that would have been done, the investigation I the Hawala would not have been so shabby. Why can’t this be taken up now?
14. Your Lordship in the same matter I filed yet again an Affidavit on 9th Jan 1996. This affidavit also met the same fate. Why Your Lordship this can not be taken up?
15. Your Lordship may recall that after being through the seized documents (Jain a/c books) in the Hawala, had made the following comments: “ I find it hard to believe that one can perpetuate such kind of fraud and get away like this. All you need is courage enough to be a criminal of the highest order and say I can get away doing anything. If we were meant only for punishing people for petty offences and let the people go scot-free, who spend lakhs of rupees on birthdays, we better then close down the Court.” “ We certainly are not going to throw up our hands. This is something extraordinary, which does not happen everyday. We are so disturbed and we can’t leave the matter at that. It has to be taken to its logical conclusions. We want results.”
16. Based on these very documents and after noticing the inaction of the investigating agencies. Your Lordships once again on 3.4.95 had given certain directions to recall the accused from abroad and take necessary steps against them.
17. Your Lordship, what is happening now? Are we reaching the logical conclusions in the Hawala case? No Your Lordship No! Instead we have become a laughing stock. The politicians are dumping it as a conspiracy. While the fact is the hushing-up of the Hawala investigations and the resultant discharge of the politicians (without investigation and trial) constitute the biggest conspiracy against the nation. I am not going to sit quietly Your Lordship. What face will I show to the youth of this nation? That you fight fearlessly for your motherland and get ridiculed? That you appeal to the Apex Court for justice in the public interest and you return by being branded as a conspirator? No, Your Lordship, No! this can not be done.
18. While I am wondering, how this is happening? All sorts of stories are being floated to demoralise us. The crux of all these stories is that Jains have been able to show - manage the authorities. Various details are being conveyed to us. A French journalist takes my telephonic interview and then conveys to me that one Dr. Bansal (USA based NRI) has been specially brought home to handle one significant authority. More details are conveyed about the activities taking place abroad. I don’t buy these stories but then some foreign detective agencies phone and ask me if I can pay them the price to buy the evidence of such ‘management’. I don’t have that kind of resources to buy those evidences and then check their authenticity. But someone who has some vested interest and resources would not hesitate in doing that. For example the business rivals of the Jains or the rival companies he represents will use every opportunity to their advantage. I hope and wish all this is false. Because if it is true, there is no hope for this country.
19. Your Lordship, I still have hope that you will do something. I have spoken to some police officials within and outside CBI who are willing to investigate the entire case. I know that they will not be scared of threats etc. If you need their names, the same can be sent to you. These honest officials can be asked to form a special investigation team. So that the Hawala case which is the ‘mother of all scams’, does not remain un-investigated.
20. Your Lordship! when the state police fails to perform, the CBI is brought in, but when CBI has miserably failed to perform, what do we tell the nation? Sorry we are helpless. We can not restore the Rule of Law. Your Lordship how can this be done? There are options and we know that the Supreme Courts in several countries have gone beyond the written law to tackle similar situations. Our country desperately needs such bold steps in this 50th year of its independence.
21. Your Lordship I don’t think that there is a need to worry about the political instability in the country. If a few dozen of them land up in Jail, 100 others are eagerly waiting to fill the gap. Without some punishment to a few of them further deterioration will not stop but rather speedup.
22. Your Lordship, each word in this paper is a genuine and honest expression of my sentiments. The intention is to serve my motherland. Yet if you feel I have violated any law by being straight forward, I am ready for any punishment. If you don’t think so, then please do bless me as you would bless your own son to be honest, fearless and patriotic.
23. I salute to the martyrs who laid their lives to liberate this nation and offer my respectful regards to you.
24. Once again I request you with folded hands, on behalf of millions of youth of this country please do not let this opportunity go out of our hands. Otherwise the future generations will not pardon us.

Thanking you

Yours faithfully

Vineet Narain
Editor,
Kalchakra investigative news
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