Chhattisgarh bank scam accused denies bribing Raman Singh, BJP ministers

RAIPUR: An accused in a multi-crore cooperative bank scam today did a U-turn on his statement that he had paid bribe to Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh and some ministers of his Cabinet, prompting Congress to allege that the retraction is made under duress.


Umesh Sinha, the then manager of Indira Priyadarshini Mahila Nagrik Sahkari Bank that went bust in 2006, today said "I have not made money transactions with anyone. I am not at all under pressure or being threatened by anyone," he told reporters here.

Sinha is currently out on bail. Opposition Congress had last month released a CD and transcripts of Sinha's narco-analysis test in which he purportedly named Raman Singh and four ministers as beneficiaries in the scam.

BJP had already denied the allegations. "I was in sub-conscious state during narco analysis and I don't know anything I had spoken at that time," he said.

When asked about his whereabouts after revelation of transcripts of the test by Congress, he said he was visiting places of pilgrimage.

Unfazed by Sinha's retraction, Congress said it was apparent that he is under pressure to do U-turn on the confession.

"Sinha was missing for last two weeks. Now, he has surfaced suddenly and is denying all charges which he had himself made in narco test. It seems he is under pressure," said senior party leader Satyanarayan Sharma.

Sharma also dared ruling BJP government to come up with the CD of Sinha's narco analysis and file a defamation suit if it feels that Congress leveled baseless allegations.

The CD and transcripts of the narco-analysis showed Sinha as saying that he paid Rs 1 crore each to Raman Singh and ministers Brijmohan Agrawal, Amar Agrawal, Ramvichar Netam and Rajesh Munat after the bank went bust.

Sinha had also admitted that he paid money to the ruling party politicians at the behest of the then chairperson of the bank Rita Tiwari.

Tiwari had, however, denied the charge. Congress has been demanding resignation of the chief minister and his cabinet colleagues named by Sinha over the issue.