Click to play videoNew Delhi: Moni Kumar Subba, Congress MP from Tezpur in Assam, flashes his birth certificate when he is accused of being a foreigner who has faked his identity.
A CNN-IBN investigation in March 2006 exposed Subba for lying about his place of birth and hiding his Nepalese identity. The birth certificate is the only document Subba has to prove his Indian citizenship, but a CNN-IBN investigation has again established that the certificate is a fake and that he is a foreign national.
The certificate says Subba was born on March 16, 1958 in Dabgram, West Bengal. That is bizarre, as the document was issued 40 years later on October 28, 1998. Salil Sarkar, the Registrar of Births and Deaths in Dabgram, confirmed this to CNN-IBN.
Sarkar says Subba had no document to prove his birth in Dabgram, but yet the magistrate in Siliguri asked him to issue a birth certificate to the politician. “I remember Subba’s case clearly. There were many requests for pre-1977 birth certificates but I remember his clearly because the magistrate ordered me to give him a certificate,” says Sarkar.
At the Registrar’s office, CNN-IBN found an affidavit submitted by Phanindra Nath Sarkar in 1998. The affidavit says: “Moni Kumar Subba was born at my residence at No. 1 Dabgram, Holding No. 32/512/411 under ward No 23, on 16th March 1958.”
The affidavit allowed Subba to get the birth certificate, but Phanindra Nath, 90, made a stunning revelation. “I don’t know any Subba,” he said.
Phanindra Nath denied giving an affidavit stating that Subba was born in his house in 1958. “I don’t know any Subba and I have never given any affidavit,” he said.
Phanindra Nath said that in 1958 he did not live in Dabgram and he didn’t own the house where Subba claims he was born or the plot. “I came to Dabgram only in 1969,” he said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation says it has not found conclusive evidence that Subba is a foreigner—it should be visiting Dabgram to get proof.
(With inputs from Sudesh Bhatt)
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