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Omar figures in list of suspects: PDP

Special Correspondent

Farooq Abdullah also figures in list: Baig
“CBI adopting double standards”

SRINAGAR: The former Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister and senior People’s Democratic Party leader, Muzaffar Hussain Baig, on Tuesday said he did not say Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was in the list of the accused in the 2006 sex scandal but that “he figures in the list of suspects.”

Speaking to journalists here, he said the Central Bureau of Investigation had reportedly stated Mr. Abdullah did not figure in the list “but that is of [the] accused and not of suspects they are talking about.” I referred to the list about which the [Jammu and Kashmir] High Court has said that investigations should be conducted.”

Mr. Baig said, “The CBI failed to nail those persons whose names figured in the list. They acted under pressure and let off the high-profile politicians in 2006.”

“The name of Farooq Abdullah [former Chief Minister and now Union Minister] also figures in the list, it is number 38. I did not take his name [in the Assembly] because he is not a member of the House,” Mr. Baig said.

Demanding a probe into the alleged role of the father-son duo, the PDP leader said a Supreme Court judge or the CBI should investigate the links of the Abdullahs in the sex racket.

“The CBI should re-investigate the case under the supervision of the court.”

Coming down on the agency, Mr. Baig alleged that CBI officials were adopting double standards to ensure that the high-profile politicians involved in the sex racket were set free.

“The CBI always tried to hush up the case to save the high-profile politicians. The irony is that the country’s law is different for other States and for Kashmir it is totally different.”

Mr. Baig said the PDP was the first party to have acted against its leader whose name surfaced in the scam.

“We did not even offer any mandate to the tainted leader,” he said.

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