MCC letters baffle S&T dept director

Thursday, September 23, 2010

VIJAY DEO JHA

Ranchi

An unknown person calling himself a cadre of Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) has been sending threatening letters to senior State officials like Chief Secretary Ashok Singh, Assembly Speaker CP Singh, and whistleblower Madan Yadav, who has filed a corruption case against Science & Technology department director Arun Kumar.

The sender has threatened them of dire consequences if actions were taken against Science & Technology department director Arun Kumar. “If you dare do this, you will be killed within 48 hours,” the letters read.

A fortnight back, Chief Secretary Ashok Singh is believed to have received one such letter.

On Tuesday, Speaker CP Singh received a threatening letter from one Raju Mandal of Sudambudih village of Arki under Ranchi district. Madan Yadav, who has filed a public interest litigation (PIL) to seek a fair probe in the corruption in the Science & Technology department, also received a threatening letter that day. The letters have been sent by the same Raju Mandal, whose identity is yet to be established.

Madan Yadav has been threatened with dire consequences if he does not withdraw his petition against Kumar. “I received the letter on Tuesday. And the person identifying himself as Raju Mandal of the MCC has threatened to kill me if I don’t withdraw case against the director,” he told The Pioneer.

Yadav has lodged a complaint with the Doranda police atation in this regard. However, senior police officials strongly believe there is no involvement of a Maoist cadre behind issuing threatening letters in support of the Science & Technology department director. “There is no named presence or existence of the MCC after its merger in the People’s War Group (PWG),” a senior police official commented. “It is a prank, it is a serious kind of prank that needed to be investigated,” the officer said.

It should be noted that two separate complaints of corruption against Kumar have been filed by Madan Yadav and Shivjee Singh. Speaker CP Singh received the letter after he forwarded the complaint of Shivjee Singh to the Chief Secretary for further action.

However amid an embarrassing support from an unexpected quarter, Science & Technology department director Arun Kumar appeared baffled, quite unable to point out who the man can be. “I do not know who is doing all these. I am not aware of the motive behind the threatening letters. Those who have sent such letters must be a fool,” Dr Arun Kumar told The Pioneer on Tuesday.

Source said that Dr Kumar was summoned by the Chief Secretary on Tuesday evening to probe the matter.

Official source did not rule out it to be a case of internal rivalry in the State bureaucracy. “You cannot rule out that his rivals within the bureaucracy and outside might have been doing all these to keep him in trouble,” a senior police officer said.

“And each time such threatening letters reach people in the power corridor, the corruption charges against Kumar will be refreshed in the public memory,” the official sounded quite logical.