In the dock

CBI informs the Supreme Court that the birth certificate and other documents supplied by the Mani Kumar Subba are not genuine.

Good luck seems to have deserted controversial Congress MP from Texpur Mani Kumar Subba. The Suprme Court has given him six weeks time to clarify his position after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) informed the apex court that the birth certificate and other documents supplied by the MP were not genuine. A three-member Bench headed by Chief Justice of India, K. G. Balakrishnan and comprising Justice R. V. Ravindran and Justice M. K. Sarma passed the order.

But even after the order of the Supreme Court, Mani Kumar Subba maintains that he is an India by birth. He is confident of coming out clean from this row over his citizenship. According to the MP, he was born in Debgram, a place near Siliguri in West Bengal in 1958 and is staying in Assam since 1962 afetr his parents migrated. He further observed that that the apex court did not ask him to resign and only asked him to respond. Mr. Subba claims that his birth certificate is in order and there are no anamolies.

The PIL filed by a Noida resident, Birendra Nath Singh alleging that the MP and lottery baron was a Nepalese citizen and had come to India after a murder case was registered against him there in early 1970s.

CBI sources had said that during investigations it was found that the date of birth certificate submitted by Subba suggesting that he was born in Silliguri in West Bengal was not authentic.

Earlier a News Channel’s report with the help of the Lok Sabha records claimed that Subba is perhaps the only MP to have two different places of birth. The Subba dossier in the 12th Lok Sabha recorded his place of birth as Tezpur, Assam, his date of birth being March 16, 1951. But his dossier for the current (14th) Lok Sabha showed his place of birth as Dabgram, in West Bengal, and the date of birth, as March 16, 1958. More interestingly, the MP’s passport issued on July 5, 1993 mentioned his place of birth as Harmoty in Lakhimpur district of Assam.

Following the revealation by the News channel, Subba thretened to file a defamation case against the channel. The uproar subsided considerably after Lok Sabha Speaker ruled that that the Lok Sabha didn’t have the authority to sack the MP.

But the latest apex court order following the information supplied by CBI in a sealed cover has once again brought the issue to the forefront. While the Congress is divided on this issue, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have already demanded resignation and arrest of Mr. Subba.  Assam unit of the BJP unit has said that the Prime Minister, UPA chairperson and the State’s Chief Minister have committed crime against the country by nominating thrice a person like Mani Subba. They should also apologise to the people of the country for this act of theirs, said BJP. AGP general secretary Dilip Saikia described Subba as a threat to the country. Subba has misled the people of the country with false information on the status of his citizenship he said and demanded Subba’s immediate arrest and deportation to Nepal.

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