Ajmani’s lawyer wants to record his version

RANCHI: Ranchi’s ex-MLA Gulshan Ajmani was produced before the special CBI judge on Wednesday for the seventh time in a hearing related to recording of his confessional statement under Section 164 of the CrPC, which the CBI has been opposing.
Ajmani is an accused in the fodder scam.
His lawyer told the court that the money taken from suppliers by his client, with the knowledge of senior BJP leaders, was for the election expenses of Union finance minister Yashwant Sinha.Ajmani’s law-yer Shambhu Prasad Aggrawal has accused the CBI of distorting, at the behest of the Union finance minister, his statements given to it under Section 161 of the CrPC. He, therefore, prayed for getting his co-nfession recorded by a magistrate.
“The law says that a person can record his confession during investigation, or anytime later, but prior to the initiation of trial. The guilt of taking money for unworthy people is also bearing on his client, and he wants to make a clean breast of it,� Aggrawal added.
The CBI has been opposing it on the ground that no confession can be recorded after submission of the chargesheet. Its contention is that statements can only be made under Section 313 of the CrPC, which can be given by any accused person in the course of evidence or later.
Aggrawal said during the last hearing on May 20, CBI SP had said Ajmani was not an associate of Adarsh Pharma, and, therefore, needed to be discharged from the case. The whole case, till now, has been based on the allegation in which the CBI had accused Ajmani of being an associate, albeit the main brain, of Adarsh Pharma, which had fraudulently withdrawn Rs 36.5 crore.
Ajmani has acknowledged the receipt of Rs 15 lakh and has claimed to have evidence to show that he spent it on Sinha’s election. If his intention would have been bad, then he would not have taken money by drafts, he said, adding that every politician those days solicited money from the suppliers and officers, who were bigwigs of Ranchi.