SC seeks Assam MP Subba's response on citizenship row

The Supreme Court directed controversial Congress MP from Assam, Mani Kumar Subba, to respond to a CBI report which questioned the veracity of his birth certificate following a probe over a petition which alleged that he was a Nepalese citizen. "The birth certificate produced by Subba is not genuine," a Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishanan said after perusing the CBI report. "The report is against you," the Bench also comprising Justices R V Raveendran and M K Sharma said. After dilly-dallying for almost a year, the probe agency on 10th December last, had placed its report in a sealed cover before the court on allegations questioning the citizenship of MP from Tezpur. The Bench declined to make the report public and said it would only be given to Subba for responding and posted the matter for further hearing after the summer vacation. The court was hearing a PIL filed by a Noida resident, Birendra Nath Singh, who alleged that the MP and lottery baron was a Nepalese citizen and had come to India after a murder case was registered against him there in early 1970s. CBI sources had said that during investigations it was found that the date of birth certificate submitted by Subba suggesting that he was born in Silliguri in West Bengal was not authentic. Subba had given a birth certificate claiming that he was born in 1958, contrary to the records available with the Assam Regional Passport office which showed his year of birth as 1961. According to his earlier affidavit submitted in the 1998 Lok Sabha, his year of birth was 1951. Subba's counsel Abhishek Singhvi had said the MP has been in politics for years and this charge had been made against him on several occasions. The court had expressed displeasure over the CBI seeking more time to probe Subba's citizenship issue and had warned the Centre and CBI on 19th January last year for their inability to provide concrete answers on the matter. The Lok Sabha MP from Tezpur had claimed that he was born in Dadgram village in Darjeeling district of West Bengal and his parents had migrated from Singtam village in Sikkim. The PIL had alleged that Subba has changed his name from Mani Raj Limbo to Mani Kumar Subba after leaving Nepal. Earlier, Subba had denied all allegations against him contending that his political rivals, after failing to prove the charges against him at various other courts, had got the present PIL filed in the apex court. However, the apex court on 19th January last year, had expressed its anguish that the CBI gave pre-dominance to the "highly suspicious" documents and affidavits filed by the Lok Sabha member from Tezpur for contesting the elections while investigating the issue and not putting the onus on him to prove his nationality. It had taken strong exception that the agency did not bother to place on record documents relating to Subba's birth certificate or school certificate. The CBI in its earlier report had said "there was nothing to establish that he was a Nepalese citizen". However, the court had said "Prima facie there are serious allegations and we have to take serious view." It had said "CBI was not proceeding in right direction". The Court was not impressed with the argument that CBI has gone into the depth of the matter with the Nepalese government and even took the help of interpol and it was only a witch-hunt aimed at maligning Subba. The court wanted to know whether Subba himself was questioned by the CBI as he himself had to prove his nationality and his credentials. The court had observed there was "serious conflict" on Subba's citizenship. Maintaining that Subba was holding a responsible position, the Bench said he should show where he was born as everything on his citizenship was "highly suspicious". Senior advocate Vijay Hansaria, appearing for the petitioner, had said "claims of Subba were based on forged documents" and investigations carried out by a private TV channel had allegedly established his Nepalese citizenship. His submission that he would place before the court the transcript and the CD of the news report was rejected by the Bench. An affidavit refuting Subba's claim was filed by Jamini Kumar Baishya, social worker and advocate from Tezpur, who filed an application seeking impleadment in the matter. He had alleged that the MP had filed forged documents when the petition questioning his citizenship had come up before the Guwahati High Court. In the affidavit, Baishya had said, the fact that Subba is a Nepalese national was allegedly admitted by him in his affidavit filed on 13th April last year. The social worker said an annexure in the MP's affidavit, related to birth registration of one of his daughter Roshni Subba, allegedly revealed that the MP and his wife Jyoti had claimed their nationality as "Nepali". Further, he said the documents on which the private TV channel based its report revealed that Subba in an affidavit filed before the Tezpur Magistrate's court on 3rd October, 1985 admitted that Mani Raj Limbo and Mani Kumar Subba are names of the same person.

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