Moily says he is keeping a close watch on PF case

Union Law Minister M Veerappa Moily today said he was keeping a "close watch" on the PF case in which the prime accused died in a jail in Ghaziabad, and promised to ensure a "proper enquiry" into it.

Union Law Minister M Veerappa Moily today said he was keeping a "close watch" on the PF case in which the prime accused died in a jail in Ghaziabad, and promised to ensure a "proper enquiry" into it.

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"Yeah, I am keeping a close watch on that and ensure that there should be a proper enquiry and I am getting reports on that," Moily told NDTV when asked whether he is taking a close look at the enquiry into the case and taking it as some sort of a benchmark case.

He said the nation would like to know the truth behind the death of accused Ashutosh Asthana, a court staff and the prime accused in the Rs 23 crore scam in which the names of a number of higher and lower judiciary judges, including that of a judge of the apex court, had cropped up.

"Any conspiracy or anything, which led to his death... I think public would...the nation would like to know the real truth behind it," Moily said when asked about the possibility of conspiracies behind Asthana's death.

He said the death of Asthana was "really shocking" and "needs to be thoroughly probed into" but refused to accept that this could derail the process of investigation into the scam.

"I don't think it (the investigation) should be derailed. After all, state government should take more interest. I don't think the death of an accused should derail (the investigation)," he said adding that he does not have any exact information about what really happened.