The Scam
The scam hovered around the fact that the Hawala channels through which terrorist outfits in Kashmir like Hijbul-Mujahideen used to get funds, the same channels used to grease the palms of over 115 top bureaucrats and politicians of the country. CBI, RAW and every other investigative agencies of the country suppressed the entire case

Indian government accuses Pakistan for encouraging dreaded militant outfit Hijbul-Mujahideen to spread terrorism in India, but why does it not want to investigate the Jain Hawala case, which is directly connected with the funding of the Hijbul-Mujahideen ? It is the same organization which has been behind maximum terrorist attacks and has also caused the Kargil war that took the toll of hundreds of our young officers and soldiers. Vineet Narain has been demanding an honest probe in this case to check further growth of militancy in India but in vain.

Hawala :: The biggest scam in the history of independent India
Hawala is the biggest ever scandal in the world which involved over 115 top politicians and bureaucrats of the country. Never before so many top politicians been caught in a single scandal. Hawala Scam was bigger than even Watergate, Iran-gate, Bofors, Harshad Mehta, Tehelka and Lockheed scams.

Unprecedented ramifications of Hawala Crusade on Indian Polity
Vineet Narain’s tireless Hawala crusade and Supreme Court’s intervention have given unprecedented jolt to Indian politics. In the post Hawala period three general elections have been held in four years and 5 times Prime Ministers have taken oath. Instead of one party, two dozen political parties have been forced to run the government. Why is it that despite such serious ramifications of Jain Hawala Scam no political party has made it an issue to demand an honest investigation in this historic case ?

Narain has been single-handedly and persistently fighting against 115 mightiest people of the land since 1993. To prove his point about the unscrupulous hushing-up of this case, he did not hesitate in locking horns with the top judiciary of the country.

It was in August 1993, when Narain exposed the now notorious Jain Hawala Scam in the 10th volume of Kalchakra video news cassette. Through this exposure he proved how the militants of Kashmir and senior Indian politicians were receiving slush money from the same clandestine sources. Indian investigating agencies had hushed up the matter. Shocked with this expose India’s ruling elite got this video cassette banned from the Censor Boards. Narain appealed to the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal.

Chairman Film Certification Appellate Tribunal clears the ban on Kalchakra
The Chairman of the Tribunal, Hon’ble Justice B. Lentin, who set aside the Film Censorship ban on Kalchakra on November 22, 1993 wrote in his historic judgment. "The story as it unfolds in the film is the result of investigative journalism.... ...The net result is that several politicians, ministers and bureaucrats have not emerged exactly like knights in shining white armor. To put it bluntly, they have come out rather poorly.... But, then, this is what investigative journalism is all about. The freedom to investigate so that people can have what is their right in a democracy (and ours is indeed a democracy), namely the right to be informed, the right to know and thereafter to make up their minds how much credence should be given to what is offered, what and how much to accept and what and how much to reject....What may seemingly be uncomfortable is not merely swept away under the carpet by the expediency of censorship under the guise of “defamation” or by a ‘holier than thou’ posture."

Temptations, heavy bribes and bids on life couldn't deter Narain
After this moral victory Narain was offered a huge sum of money to detain the release of Kalchakra but he took the matter to the Apex Court through a PIL, demanding a thorough probe into this scam, which had endangered the security of the nation. During 1993-94 he faced severe hardships, total isolation, negligible media response, several threats to life on one side and numerous financial offers on the other. Undeterred by such delicate situations he continued to fight.

Several Cabinet Ministers, Chief Ministers, Governors get Charge-sheeted
The dogged perseverance of Narain bore fruits. Several Cabinet Ministers, Chief Ministers, Governors and bureaucrats were charge-sheeted in 1996. This happened for the first time in the history of Independent India.

Narain questions judiciary for the unethical burial of the Hawala Case
On 12th July 1997 Mr. Narain wrote to the then CJI Justice JS Verma a detailed letter explaining how the Hawala Scam was being systematically hushed-up since Oct 1996. In the same letter he also expressed his concern about one Dr. Jolly Bansal, a close associate of the accused Jain brothers, who had been able to manage the ‘authorities’. Narain knew that Dr. Bansal was socializing with two of the three judges of the Supreme Court of India, who had been monitoring the Hawala Case.                                                                Narain's letter to Chief Justice JS Verma
                                                                                                Special edition of Kalchakra on Justice Verma
                                                                                            What  Justice Verma said in 1994 about this case

The bench of judges mention the undue pressure on them to hush up the case
On 14th July 1997, Justice JS Verma announced in the open court that he and his brother judge, Justice SC Sen were being persistently pressurized to hush - up the Hawala case. A shocked nation demanded that the name of the person having committed such grave contempt of the Apex Court be exposed and punished. Surprisingly both Justice Verma and Justice Sen maintained silence despite tremendous pressure from the bar, media and parliamentarians. One may wonder why Justice Verma remained silent about the so-called ‘pressure’ until Narain compelled him to speak.

Narain exposes the person who pressurized the Hon'ble Judges
Speculations were on in the media about the possible person when on 30th July 1997 Narain revealed the name of the so-called gentleman to the press. It was widely covered by the print and TV media. (Interestingly in January 2000, one of the judges, Justice SC Sen has confessed in writing that he indeed was socializing with Dr. Bansal during the Hawala case. This confession is part of the Supreme Court record, while Justice Verma has repeatedly given contradictory statements about Dr. Bansal). One can imagine what guts, investigative skills and motivation Vineet Narain has to take such risk.

The confession of Dr Jolly Bansal
Surprisingly two years later, on 15th July 1999, the same Dr. Jolly Bansal confessed before the media persons in Delhi that he was involved in managing the two judges . He said so in a sworn affidavit . This devastating affidavit makes serious allegations of immoral practices against Justice Verma and Justice Sen. Surprisingly neither defamation nor contempt of court proceedings were initiated against Dr. Bansal. Instead an attempt to physically eliminate him was made in Delhi. The matter is pending in Delhi High Court.                                   Full text of Dr. Bansal's Affidavit

Narain writes to Attorney General of India
After such unusual development Mr. Vineet Narain wrote to the Attorney General of India, Mr. Soli Sorabjee ,on 1st Sept. 1999, to look into the allegations of Dr. Bansal and decide the suitable course of legal action either against Bansal or against the erring judges. Surprisingly when the AG failed to respond even after three months, Narain decided to publish the entire episode in Kalchakra with a demand of a thorough probe into the matter. He felt that the events of July 1997 and July 1999 had a very disturbing connection. Instead of prosecuting the guilty of persistently pressurizing the Apex Court, a contempt case was initiated against Mr. Narain.
                                                                                                   Narain's letter to Attorney General of India

Narain exposes the land scams of the sitting Chief Justice of India
Undaunted, Narain went ahead and published a well-documented report about the Madhya Pradesh land scam of the wife of the sitting Chief Justice of India, Dr. AS Anand. Interestingly, the Hon’ble Supreme Court decided not to entertain the contempt petition against Mr. Narain.                                                                       Land scam No. 1
                                                                                                                                              Land scam No. 2
                                                                                                                                             Land scam No. 3

The explosive book on the Hawala Case
On 26th Aug 1999, a book authored by Narain titled, ‘Hawala Key Deshdrohi’ was released in the Constitution Club of New Delhi. While releasing the book in a jam-packed hall. Mr. J F Ribeiro, Ex-DGP Punjab & Mr. Indrajit Gupta, veteran MP and former Home Minister publicly admired Narain’s guts to fight against corruption. The book has been widely praised by everybody cutting across the party lines. After the 11 Sept. attack on WTC, there is a considerable global interest in exposing the clandestine Hawala channels, which are being used for funding the militancy. It is a pity that despite Narain’s persistent demand since 1993, the Jain Hawala case has been buried unceremoniously buried. After the initial news reports Narain’s book has not been allowed to be discussed in media. Yet, it is creating ripples in the Hindi heartland and there is a demand for the production of its English version.

The online edition of the book is available here :: Hawala:: The Complete Story

The vicious propaganda against the Hawala Case
Those who had misled the nation by saying that the Jain Hawala case had no merit, were naturally, upset with Narain’s dogged persistence to expose the corrupt ways of hushing-up major scams. They put pressure upon the media to isolate him from the mainstream. People who knew nothing about this case and crusade were repeatedly invited on various TV talk shows to air their doctored versions while, Narain was not allowed to tell the truth to the nation. Without being demoralized Mr. Narain continued to write bold syndicated columns in dozens of popular dailies and address public meetings on these serious issues. As and when Mr. Narain got a chance to appear on popular TV news shows like the Big Fight on the Star News Channel, Prime Time show on Zee TV etc. he created ripples in the country by highlighting some vital facts about the Hawala case.

The re-opening of the Hawala Case
In one such show on 5th Feb 2000, titled the Big Fight, when Mr. Narain confronted the CVC, Mr. N. Vittal and got an assurance from him to re-investigate the Hawala scam, massive noise was made in the Parliament for several days to check Mr. Vittal. It is interesting that the Apex Court closed the Hawala case, without arriving at its logical conclusions and gave a so-called historic judgment to grant autonomy to CBI. The powers of CVC were enhanced to monitor the performance of the investigating agencies of the Central Govt. Narain had protested at that time by writing to the Court. His plea was if Apex Court could not ensure honest probe into the Hawala case, how would CVC, a political appointee do that ? His prophesy came to be true. If the Hawala payee politicians allegation, that there was a conspiracy to frame them in this case is true, why do they get so nervous about the honest investigation of the case by Narain ?

Confession of Jt. Director CBI
Interestingly, on 10th Feb 2000, Mr. BR Lal, DGP Haryana, (who was the then Joint Director, CBI incharge of Hawala investigations) told the nation on Prime Time show of Zee TV, that CBI had sufficient evidence against Hawala accused politicians but there was tremendous pressure from it’s Directors and from above to conceal the same or file flimsy charge sheets, so that the politicians could be let off. Why did the print media ignore such a bold revelation? Why did the government and CBI not take notice of it ?

Hawala :: The mother of all scams
It is a well-known fact that much noise was made in the past on Bofors, Bank Scam, Fodder Scam, Lakhubhai Pathak Bribe Case, St. Kitts, Sukhram, JMM and recently about Tehelka in which only three politicians were named, but the same people have been maintaining mysterious silence about the continued inaction and manipulation by the CBI, Income Tax and FERA depts. in the Hawala Case, Why ?

Obviously because everybody who matters in Indian politics is involved in it. Even in such adverse circumstances Narain has not given up. His has been the lone voice against the entire establishment. This is the testimony of his courage of conviction and high moral strength.