PA caught taking bribe, minister lands in spot

Ramachandran, who came to know of the arrest late this evening, said he did not know anything about it and said he always believed in honesty in public life.

‘‘During my 40 years of public life, I strictly adhered to this principle,’’ he said in a statement. He said Prime Minister A B Vajpayee and MDMK chief Vaiko were fully aware that he was honest. On the arrest of Perumal Swamy, he said, ‘‘Let law take its own course.’’

Raids were also carried out at Swamy’s North Block office and Vardhan’s Safdarjung house and office. The CBI spokesperson said that cash worth Rs 3.05 lakh was recovered from the residence of the IRS officer. According to sources, the investigating agency has seized several chits from the PA’s office containing names of other IRS officers and their transfers.

The CBI suspects that the money was exchanged for these postings as well. Along with the chits, a copy of Vardhan’s transfer order sent by Swamy was also recovered. And this is not the first time Swamy alias Babu has been questioned by the CBI. According to sources, in 1996, he was interrogated by the CBI for allegedly selling coupons for LPG cylinders available through the MPs’ discretionary quotas.

The premium at which these coupons were sold were allegedly ranging between Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 per cylinder. In fact, when he was appointed as PA to Ramachandran, Finance Ministry officials had objected.

Members of Parliament from South India remember him as an aide of MDMK leader Vaiko as also several other first-timers from the South. Thanks to his knowledge of Hindi, he was the local guide to most of them who did not know the city well.

Gingee Ramachandran’s two personal secretaries — Chandrakant Kamble, an IAS officer of the 1991 batch from Tamil Nadu and E Venkataiah, an IRS official — quit their posts because of Swamy’s activities, sources said. Kamble left a year or so ago while Vekataiah quit on May 9.

Giving details of the case, CBI said Vardhan had approached Swamy through a middleman in Chennai, Krishnamurthy, for a posting to Mumbai. The deal was struck at Rs 4 lakh and the orders for Vardhan’s transfer to Mumbai were issued last evening.

Following this, Swamy had gone to meet the IRS officer to collect the amount agreed upon, the sources said.

During searches at the residence of Chartered Accountant Krishnamurthy in Chennai’s T Nagar, the CBI recovered Rs 69 lakh in cash and cheques worth Rs 87 lakh.

Vardhan’s wife said her husband was transferred to Mumbai on the ‘‘genuine’’ ground that their children were autistic and needed treatment there.

‘‘My husband (Anurag Vardhan) had applied to the Central Board of Direct Taxes for a transfer and they said as it was a genuine case, there was no question of denying the transfer,’’ Meena Vardhan told reporters. ‘‘We had not received any help from any minister whatsoever,’’she added.