By IANS,
Shimla : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Shimla Varinder Kashyap, who is shown in a video CD allegedly accepting cash for granting permission to an educational institute, Wednesday said the CD was fabricated and that he was “ready to face any inquiry”.
“I am ready to face any inquiry… from any agency,” Kashyap told reporters clarifying his stand regarding the release of a CD in Shimla Tuesday in which he was shown taking money from someone.
The video CD was one of three CDs sent to select journalists, legislators and high court judges. While the other two were audio – one of them has a man sounding like Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal instructing the phone tapping of Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh and the second has the chief minister purportedly talking about former union ministers Sukh Ram and Shanta Kumar.
“I have not seen the (video) CD so far but it’s fabricated, seemed to be fake. It is just a political conspiracy to malign my 30-32 years’ political career. I will resign from parliament if it’s proved that the CD is original,” Kashyap said.
“Even before the parliamentary elections, some people tried to create trouble for me… tried to block my chances of getting the ticket.”
On the CD showing him taking wads of currency notes, Kashyap said he found an abandoned packet at a marriage function in Solan town. At that time, campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections was on and Kashyap was not an MP.
“I handed over the packet to the people accompanying me (on that day) and it was later handed over to police. Later, I was told that the packet contained Rs.25,000. Now police is investigating that case.
“I am a public representative. A large number of people come daily to meet us. It’s difficult to know the mindset of each and every visitor. Someone might have played mischief with me by involving me in this act,” he said.
Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has ordered a probe into the release of the audio CDs.
“I ordered an inquiry this (Wednesday) morning to look into the authenticity of the audio CDs. The CID (Criminal Investigation Department) Additional Director General of Police will conduct the inquiry within a time-frame,” Dhumal told IANS over phone.