“We are trying to ascertain the facts,” Union home secretary Gopal K. Pillai said when asked about reports that there are three criminal complaints with the Kerala police and four cases in the Delhi and Kerala high courts that name Mr Chatwal and his associates. Mr Pillai, however, maintained that no probe has been ordered nor any report sought from anyone.According to media reports, all the cases against Mr Chatwal were filed or registered after April 2009, and in two of these cases Mr Chatwal was served summons last month. The cases reportedly relate to alleged “non-payment of bills” by Mr Chatwal to suppliers of furnishings for his newly- constructed Kochi hotel and alleged “criminal intimidation” of them on the night of the launch party. The home ministry had earlier come out with a detailed statement noting that Mr Chatwal had been a tireless campaigner for India-US ties and maintained that there was “nothing adverse on record” against him. Defending the decision to honour Mr Chatwal with the Padma Bhushan, the nation’s third highest civilian honour, the government had said that “due diligence” had been exercised before announcing his name for the award. “As regards the allegations against Chatwal, it is clarified that between 1992 and 1994, the CBI had registered five cases against Chatwal and some bank officials for conniving with the intention to defraud the Bank of Baroda and Bank of India,” the ministry had said. “Three of these cases were closed by the CBI itself while chargesheets were filed by the CBI in two cases before the court of the special judge, CBI, Mumbai. In these two cases also, the court discharged Chatwal,” it said. The home ministry had said the Padma awards were conferred only after consideration in terms of the guidelines regulating the awards and after the observance of established and elaborate procedures.
Age Correspondent New Delhi