By IANS,
New Delhi : A day after the Enforcement Directorate questioned Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Iqbal Singh over his links with Pune stud farm ower and alleged tax evader Hasan Ali Khan, the BJP Thursday demanded his resignation.
“He is on a statutory post and the governor must resign immediately when he is being questioned by ED not once but twice,” said Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Prakash Javadekar.
Singh was questioned by the ED after the Prime Minister’s Office gave permission Wednesday.
Singh is under the scanner for his alleged links with Khan, who is said to be the country’s biggest money launderer and tax evader.
Singh is alleged to have recommended expeditious issuance of Khan’s passport in 1997 when he was a Rajya Sabha MP. According to the rules, MPs and senior government officials can verify people they know personally for passport issuance.
Singh has admitted that he recommended that the passport of Khan be expedited on “humanitarian grounds” but didn’t know him personally.
He has written a letter to Home Minister P. Chidambaram admitting he had recommended the passport after he was approached by a Bihar Congress leader, Amalendu Pandey, who claimed Khan’s brother was ill abroad.
The ED sent summons to Singh after his name cropped up during Pandey’s questioning.