One more knot was added to the spectrum scam with the suicide of Sadiq Batcha, a close aide of A. Raja and also a key witness for the CBI probing the money trail in the multi-crore crime.
While the CBI could now find it that much more difficult to untangle the 2G web minus Batcha, believed to have been in the know of all the money dealings of Mr Raja, the DMK has been stunned by this shocker as it has unleashed a fresh storm upon the upcoming Assembly poll.
The ruling party was hoping that newer controversies, such as its seesaw seat-sharing talks with the Congress, could push back the spectrum issue but now Batcha’s death has provided a new weapon for the opposition getting ready for the April 13 do-or-die battle.
More importantly, there was a general impression that freebies-fed rural masses did not much care for the spectrum scam as they considered it as ‘some distant issue emanating from Delhi’, but now this suicide has brought the stench closer to their doors. “This is sure to hurt us. Spectrum might not have made such a big impact in rural areas but this suicide and the inevitable harsh campaign by our rivals will make things difficult for us,” said a DMK MP. Ms J. Jayalalithaa was pretty fast in raising a serious question that is bound to figure in the centerpiece of all the poll campaign speeches of the AIADMK supremo and the rest of her alliance.
“In order to hide the whole truth behind the Himalayan 2G spectrum scam, another unpardonable crime has been committed. Is it a case of murder or forced suicide?” she asked in a statement just hours after Batcha’s ended his life. She said, “it does not come as a surprise to people who know the DMK’s style of internal justice.”
Her case is that all those connected with the spectrum case, including Mr Raja, were in danger because “the main objective of the DMK is to keep the CBI from getting closer to the Karunanidhi family members”. The Batcha suicide, undoubtedly has added gunpowder to her cannon targeting the DMK during the poll campaign.
Her close ally and state CPI secretary D. Pandian has demanded a CBI probe into Batcha’s suicide. He claimed that Batcha was to take the evening flight to Delhi to meet the CBI team. “Did he kill himself or was he murdered?” asked the CPI leader.
Jaya TV telecast his interview and surely, the comrade will repeat the charge at every poll campaign meet he would be addressing across the state.
Says political analyst Cho Ramaswamy, “This death will definitely confirm the public suspicion that DMK bigwigs are involved in the
spectrum scam and that a man who knew too much and who was likely to turn approver, has been silenced.”