Cong for CBI probe into Kandahar payoff case

UP Assembly party leader Pramod Tewari said matter was 'very serious and linked with national security'.

The Congress on Thursday demanded a CBI inquiry into the alleged paying of ransom to resolve the Kandahar hijacking crisis.

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"It is a serious matter and should be investigated by the CBI," Congress Legislature Party leader in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Pramod Tewari said.

He said that he would meet the Prime Minister or write him a letter seeking a CBI inquiry into the case.

Tewari said that the revelations made by former foreign minister Jaswant Singh in his book A Call to Honour that he had taken $200 million and explosives with him while accompanying dreaded terrorist Azhar Masood to Kandahar was "very serious and linked with national security".

The Congress leader asked Singh to make it clear as to what was kept in the red bag handed over to the terrorists.

Tewari said that former BJP leader Madan Lal Khurana's statement that money was paid to terrorists and LK Advani's assertion that he was opposed to the conditions imposed by the terrorists clearly indicated that there was something shady somewhere.